Animal things to do Yellowstone/Grand Teton?

OrangePerson

OrangePerson

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Does anyone have any recommendations about the best things to do re wildlife in this are at this time of year please?

I don't want to visit zoos to see animals I could see anywhere but if there's some sort of wildife places with local wildlife or great 'experiences'/guided trips that'd be great.

Thank you
 
Yellowstone is one of the best places on the planet to see wild large mammals. The Lamar Valley is full of elk, bison, pronghorns, and at least one wolf pack.

The Hayden Valley has the Yellowstone River flowing through it and has wolves, grizzly bears, bison, bald eagles, and elk.

Just driving through the park I saw black bears, a herd of big horned sheep, sage grouse, sandhill cranes, and coyotes.

When you get there the rangers can direct you to areas of high wildlife activity.

I didn't see any moose, but just about everyone else I've met who has been to Yellowstone has seen them. There are also river otters, beavers, and trumpeter swans in Lake Yellowstone, but I didn't see them (did see a beaver dam in the Hayden Valley).

I hope that you have a great trip.
 
OrangePerson said:
Does anyone have any recommendations about the best things to do re wildlife in this are at this time of year please?

I don't want to visit zoos to see animals I could see anywhere but if there's some sort of wildife places with local wildlife or great 'experiences'/guided trips that'd be great.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Yellowstone is probably among the best place in the country for both western and northern bird species.

  • Both Barrow's Goldeneye and Harlequin Ducks can be found on lakes and streams of Yellowstone.
  • They have an abundance of grouse and similar birds including introduced Chukar and Ring-necked Pheasant, White-tailed and Gray Ptarmigan, and Ruffed, Greater Sage-, Dusky, and Sharp-tailed Grouses.
  • Clark's and Western Grebes can also be found on the lakes.
  • Some of the interesting hawk species include Northern Goshawk, Ferruginous Hawk, and Rough-legged Hawk. Golden and Bald Eagles are reside fairly abundantly in the park.
  • Sandhill Cranes come through, though not in huge numbers.
  • Watch for some sandpipers and other shorebirds, including Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, and two phalarope species are some of the around 25 species found there now.
  • If you are an owl fan, Yellowstone is the place to be, as 10 species are possible. Barn, Great Horned, Great Gray, Long-eared, and Short-eared are the larger species. The first two are the only easy ones to find. Flammulated, Western Screech-, Northern Pygmy-, Burrowing, and Northern Saw-whet Owls are the smaller species, all of which would require quite a bit of effort to find besides the burrowing.
  • Yellowstone has a variety of interesting woodpeckers including Black-backed, American Three-toed, Lewis's (a stunning bird), and Williamson's and Red-naped Sapsuckers among the more interesting species.
  • I would tell you to look for some of the western empidonax flycatchers, but those are just a source for headaches.
  • Both Loggerhead and Northern Shrikes are found there, and amazing little birds to watch.
  • One of the most popular birds is American Dipper, a unique little songbird that dives into fast-moving streams to capture its dinner.
  • Townsend's Solitarie and Mountain bluebirds are tow gorgeous and fairly easy to find thrushes, but hermit thrushes, true to their name, skulk around in the park.
  • Watch for snow buntings. Not an easy find in the area, but watch for it nonetheless.
  • There are a few of the colorful wood-warblers, but not enough diversity to make it a hotspot for that family.
  • I know sparrows aren't probably what you want to see, but Yellowstone has a variety of interesting ones including Sage, Vesper, and Brewer's. These are fun to watch if you have the time. Also a couple beautiful towhee species call that area home.
  • Rose-breasted, Black-headed, and Blue Grosbeaks are some of the more colorful songbirds, along with Lazuli Buntings.
  • Lastly for birds, Yellowstone has a variety of northern finch species including Gray-crowned and Black Rosy-finches (tough to find though), Pine Grosbeak, Cassin's Finch, Red and White-winged Crossbills, Common Redpolls, and Evening Grosbeaks.

As for mammals (I'll kinda skip over the small, hard-to-find rodents and bats):
  • Black and Brown (Grizzly) bears are found throughout the park. Often, if you see a crowd on the side of a road, there is a bear.
  • Coyotes and Red Foxes are fairly common, while Gray Wolves are also found there, they are more secretive, and I have yet to see one.
  • Bobcats are fairly abundant, but secretive. There is a very small Mountain Lion population in the park as well. Canadian Lynx are also pretty scarce.
  • Some small mustelids to watch for, but definatly not expect, are Fisher, American Badger, Marten, Mink, and Long-tailed and Short-tailed Weasels. Wolverines are rare but not impossible. River Otters are fairly easy to find in larger streams and the lake.
  • Elk and Mule Deer are super common throughout the park. And you are going at the perfect time to see their massive antlers. Moose are there in decent numbers too, but finding them is more luck.
  • The only wild Bison in America live in Yellowstone, and you should have no trouble finding them.
  • Bighorn Sheep and Mountail Goats live in higher elevation areas, but there is no guarentee to see them.
  • Pronghorn live in the prairies, mostly surrounding the park, and are pretty easy to spot, and amazing to watch.
  • Snowshoe Hare, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Mountain Cottontail, and Desert Cottontail are all common rabbits/hares in the area.
  • Beavers are pretty easy to spot in lakes, Yellow-bellied Marmots are common in higher elevation pine forests, and Porcupines live throughout the park.

Reptiles are very few, but prairie rattlesnake and sagebrush lizard are probably the most abundant.

If you want more specific places to find any of the above-mentioned species, I can probably come up with something. Enjoy your trip!
 
Thanks for this, we had a wonderful holiday and saw lots of animals in various parks, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton - chipmunks of course, prairie dogs, coyote, a stunning fox, family of beavers, elk, burros, pronghorn, mule deer, bighorn, the mountain goats at Mt Rushmore, bison galore, a male/female/young moose trio, and finally, on the last day, just after I said I've given up seeing one, a bear. We were first to spot it and spent nearly an hour watching it climbing rather flimsy looking trees eating leaves. It was also interesting to watch the bear-jam develop and how people will stand under a very flimsy tree full of bear! we didn't make it to the Lamar valley as the road was closed and we didn't have time to go the long way round. Was amazed by the canyon, had no idea it was going to be so spectacular!

Sitting quietly in Grand Teton a little rodent head popped up quite near me and looked around, disappeared and popped up again, eventually it came out and carried something, looking a bit pika-like, bigger than itself, and ran off. I'll put a pic on to see if anyone recognises it.

Not so good at recognising birds but we did see a bald eagle, Stellars jay, Clarks nutcracker, lots of red tailed hawks, chickadees. Also saw a big bird of prey at Little Bighorn, watched it hunting over the grassland for ages. Not sure what it was, not a red-tailed hawk.

It is a truly amazing land, from the rockies, Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, so beautiful, each so different!

Finally I left a camera bag with Canon lens and all my memory cards with all my photos on by Jenny Lake in Grand Teton. Got to the hotel in Jackson Hole, realised and went back, in all about 1 1/2 hrs later - a lovely man who had been fishing had been keeping an eye on it, he was just leaving as we arrived back. He'd looked for a way to contact me, of which there was none - lesson learned. You can imagine how thrilled and grateful I was!
 
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Hi OrangePerson, thanks for your trip report. It is great to hear that you had a good trip. Yellowstone is one of the most fantastic places that I have ever been. Were you able to experience some good geysers, mudpots, and other geothermal activity there?

The rodent that you are describing from the Grand Tetons could very well have been a pika. I know several people who have seen them there in exactly the way you describe.
 
Yes we had a day when we spent a lot of the time seeing geothermals! We saw Old Faithful 4 times, not because we intended to (and not from the viewing area) but we spent so long going round the board walk looking at all the other features. It is mind-blowing, what you are seeing! I even got quite fond of the smell. Some of the pools were not seen at their best because it was so cold that there was a very large amount of steam but we did see a brocken spectre in the steam :) An unfortunate man got badly scalded that day by one of the very intermittent geysers and had to be airlifted to hospital. The local paper called it a day of 'visitor mayhem in the park', someone got gored by a bison.

We really enjoyed both Yellowstone and Grand Teton and were enquiring what is a good time to visit early in the year but not sure it will happen.
 
I loved my visit to yeallowstone and Im very jealous you got to see a wild bear! We were there for a week and kept missing them, although did see them at a couple of zoos we visited.

I did however get to see a wildwolf in yellowstone, it just casually walked across the road in front of us!!!! Highlight of probably my entire life.
 
KCZooFan said:
Yellowstone is probably among the best place in the country for both western and northern bird species.

  • Both Barrow's Goldeneye and Harlequin Ducks can be found on lakes and streams of Yellowstone.
  • They have an abundance of grouse and similar birds including introduced Chukar and Ring-necked Pheasant, White-tailed and Gray Ptarmigan, and Ruffed, Greater Sage-, Dusky, and Sharp-tailed Grouses.
  • Clark's and Western Grebes can also be found on the lakes.
  • Some of the interesting hawk species include Northern Goshawk, Ferruginous Hawk, and Rough-legged Hawk. Golden and Bald Eagles are reside fairly abundantly in the park.
  • Sandhill Cranes come through, though not in huge numbers.
  • Watch for some sandpipers and other shorebirds, including Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, and two phalarope species are some of the around 25 species found there now.
  • If you are an owl fan, Yellowstone is the place to be, as 10 species are possible. Barn, Great Horned, Great Gray, Long-eared, and Short-eared are the larger species. The first two are the only easy ones to find. Flammulated, Western Screech-, Northern Pygmy-, Burrowing, and Northern Saw-whet Owls are the smaller species, all of which would require quite a bit of effort to find besides the burrowing.
  • Yellowstone has a variety of interesting woodpeckers including Black-backed, American Three-toed, Lewis's (a stunning bird), and Williamson's and Red-naped Sapsuckers among the more interesting species.
  • I would tell you to look for some of the western empidonax flycatchers, but those are just a source for headaches.
  • Both Loggerhead and Northern Shrikes are found there, and amazing little birds to watch.
  • One of the most popular birds is American Dipper, a unique little songbird that dives into fast-moving streams to capture its dinner.
  • Townsend's Solitarie and Mountain bluebirds are tow gorgeous and fairly easy to find thrushes, but hermit thrushes, true to their name, skulk around in the park.
  • Watch for snow buntings. Not an easy find in the area, but watch for it nonetheless.
  • There are a few of the colorful wood-warblers, but not enough diversity to make it a hotspot for that family.
  • I know sparrows aren't probably what you want to see, but Yellowstone has a variety of interesting ones including Sage, Vesper, and Brewer's. These are fun to watch if you have the time. Also a couple beautiful towhee species call that area home.
  • Rose-breasted, Black-headed, and Blue Grosbeaks are some of the more colorful songbirds, along with Lazuli Buntings.
  • Lastly for birds, Yellowstone has a variety of northern finch species including Gray-crowned and Black Rosy-finches (tough to find though), Pine Grosbeak, Cassin's Finch, Red and White-winged Crossbills, Common Redpolls, and Evening Grosbeaks.

As for mammals (I'll kinda skip over the small, hard-to-find rodents and bats):
  • Black and Brown (Grizzly) bears are found throughout the park. Often, if you see a crowd on the side of a road, there is a bear.
  • Coyotes and Red Foxes are fairly common, while Gray Wolves are also found there, they are more secretive, and I have yet to see one.
  • Bobcats are fairly abundant, but secretive. There is a very small Mountain Lion population in the park as well. Canadian Lynx are also pretty scarce.
  • Some small mustelids to watch for, but definatly not expect, are Fisher, American Badger, Marten, Mink, and Long-tailed and Short-tailed Weasels. Wolverines are rare but not impossible. River Otters are fairly easy to find in larger streams and the lake.
  • Elk and Mule Deer are super common throughout the park. And you are going at the perfect time to see their massive antlers. Moose are there in decent numbers too, but finding them is more luck.
  • The only wild Bison in America live in Yellowstone, and you should have no trouble finding them.
  • Bighorn Sheep and Mountail Goats live in higher elevation areas, but there is no guarentee to see them.
  • Pronghorn live in the prairies, mostly surrounding the park, and are pretty easy to spot, and amazing to watch.
  • Snowshoe Hare, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Mountain Cottontail, and Desert Cottontail are all common rabbits/hares in the area.
  • Beavers are pretty easy to spot in lakes, Yellow-bellied Marmots are common in higher elevation pine forests, and Porcupines live throughout the park.

Reptiles are very few, but prairie rattlesnake and sagebrush lizard are probably the most abundant.

If you want more specific places to find any of the above-mentioned species, I can probably come up with something. Enjoy your trip!
Click to expand...

Regarding birds,

Many of the birds you listed will only be in the park in one season or another, for instance the snow buntings would only be there in winter, while the empidonax flycatchers would only be there in summer. Northern and loggerhead shrike would not be there at the same time. Also you missed some real Yellowstone highlights: Trumpeter Swans breed and are quite easy to find in the park as are American White Pelicans (probably less exciting for you prairie dwellers) and peregrine falcons nest on many of the cliff faces.

Glad you had a nice time OrangePerson, I love the Greater Yellowstone area, it's an amazing landscape and a great place for "wild" animal encounters.
 
[QUOTE} Many of the birds you listed will only be in the park in one season or another, for instance the snow buntings would only be there in winter, while the empidonax flycatchers would only be there in summer. Northern and loggerhead shrike would not be there at the same time. Also you missed some real Yellowstone highlights: Trumpeter Swans breed and are quite easy to find in the park as are American White Pelicans (probably less exciting for you prairie dwellers) and peregrine falcons nest on many of the cliff faces.[/QUOTE]

I wasn't exactly sure when he was going, so just put some generic stuff up. I haven't ever birded the park, so was bound to miss something. I was hoping you'd spot the thread, as you have far more experience with the animals of that region.

And yes, pelicans are dirt common here, not something that appeared as interesting :) Though OrangePerson probably would have enjoyed them.
 
Of course they are not truly wild, but there is the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center near one of the park entrances. (Sounds like you did not make it there).

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

There are some really nice mid winter photo tours where they take you out in this special vehicle to areas closed in the winter. Like virtually all tours that are geared specifically for photography, though, they are quite expensive.
 
I did go to the Grizzly place because it was right opposite the hotel. I looked but couldn't see a thread on here for it. My friend would hear them howling from her room :)

I particularly liked the display about what bears can open and one of their bears being a bear-proofness tester.
 
birdsandbats said:
In may be going to Yellowstone this summer. Any tips for finding pikas?
Click to expand...
Pikas are in rocky areas, generally at high elevations. If you're up for a strenuous hike the area around Dunraven Pass has a trail where I've seen them. I also saw one near Jackson, WY (south of Grand Teton) once.
 
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