Bears, Badger, and Bill's Birds are Back--Early May

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karenandbill
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Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:55 am

Bears, Badger, and Bill's Birds are Back--Early May

Post by karenandbill »

We made several trips into the parks in early May. We were able to see wolves every time, but they were the Junction Buttes and usually a long distance out. They have a den at the original sight by Slough Creek and we were able to see several of the pups. There was a carcass in Lamar (see Rik Writer's video) and we were able to see one of the wolves there.

On May 10 we were watching the den sight from one of the Slough Road pullouts when Karen looked down and just below us was a badger! It had come out of a burrow and was laying down soaking up the sun. It gave a big yawn before settling back down.

ImageDSC_0048 by William Reinke, on Flickr

It then moved closer to the den and curled up almost in a ball.

ImageDSC_0058 (2) by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0056 (2) by William Reinke, on FlickrW

On our way in that morning we saw this black bear by the road near Vanishing Lake. We were able to pull off and get a couple of shots. The sun was very bright so the quality is not the best.

ImageDSC_0014 (2) by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0015 (3) by William Reinke, on Flickr

We also were able to see some grizzlies in Lamar, but too far for a shot

Bill's Birds are Back
Last fall Bill was able to hand feed some chickadees in our backyard. Some Pine Siskins joined the party and we posted some photos of the experience in a previous trip report. After being gone several months during the worst of the winter, we wondered if the birds would remember us. At first they were a little hesitant, but the chickadees were soon back eagerly snatching seeds. Several days later a pine siskin showed up and started eating on the hand for a brief time. About a week later more birds started showing up and Bill went out to see what would happen. With seed in the feeders he wondered if they would come to him. The chickadees came right away, but soon the pine siskins overtook the show.

ImageDSC_0084 (2) by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0083 (2) by William Reinke, on Flickr

A red-breasted nuthatch came in and snatched a few seeds (no photo). There were also some (purple???) finches in the yard and a couple of them joined in.

ImageDSC_0090 (3) by William Reinke, on Flickr

The siskins were much less tolerant of each other than they were last fall. One would land and then try to fend off all others from coming in to eat. If any others approached, it would hunker down, spread its wings and open its beak, striking anyone that would dare to land. They even held their ground against the larger finches. Soon it was pretty much chaos as birds were flying all around fighting over the seeds. One female finch landed on top of another causing it to screech. Even with using two hands the most Bill had feeding at once was four.

ImageDSC_0088 (2) by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0086 (2) by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0084 (2) by William Reinke, on Flickr

It's nice to know the birds remember us!



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