Wildlife Worth Watching

Story by Rebecca Woods

Photos by Henry H. Holdsworth, Wild By Nature Gallery www.wildbynaturegallery.com

Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks form the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, a 14-million-acre tract of land that includes seven surrounding national forests and three national wildlife refuges. Over 40,000 large mammals inhabit this vast region. When winter arrives, some migrate to warmer areas. Others, like bears, ground squirrels, and marmots hibernate. And still others, including bald eagles, bison, mule deer, moose, coyotes, and elk, simply adjust to the challenges winter presents. Time observing them and photographing their spectacular habitat is time well spent.

In Grand Teton National Park, moose are sighted at Oxbow Bend, in the willows on the north end of Moose-Wilson Road, along the Gros Ventre riverbank  en route to Kelly, and in meadows bordering Antelope Flats Road. The latter is a good place to look for the park’s resident bison herd as well. Elk congregate in the National Elk Refuge north of Jackson. Trumpeter swans winter on Flat Creek, and otters are frequently seen at the Oxbow. Bighorn sheep scale the cliffs near Stinking Springs in Hoback Canyon and the bluffs west of the National Elk Refuge Road. Nesting eagles reside near the Swinging Bridge south of Jackson.

Wildlife Expeditions, a branch of Teton Science School in Grand Teton National Park, offers guided wildlife trips into the park and surrounding forest lands, allowing visitors to forgo winter driving and benefit from the knowledge of the environmental education school’s skilled biologists and naturalists. Four-hour excursions to week-long trips in Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks are available.

In Yellowstone, wildlife gather around the thermal basins and along the 56 miles of road between Gardiner and Cooke City, Montana, in the northern reaches of the park. The lowest park elevations and the richness of the Yellowstone, Lamar, and Gardiner river valleys converge to create ideal wildlife habitat, earning the region the nickname, "America’s Serengeti."  Visitors entering Yellowstone from the northern entrance may drive this segment of the road in their own vehicles or sign up for a guided tour. Travelers from the west and south entrances of the park may journey to Mammoth via snowcoach or snowmobiles.

Visitors are reminded that winter is stressful for park wildlife. Causing animals to move by approaching too closely is an expenditure of energy that threatens their survival.

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