Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
Planes. Planes. Planes. Bears! Bears! Bears! The Travel This camp isn’t easy to get to, and that’s a substantial part of the appeal. I flew a commercial airliner to Anchorage. The following morning, I took a cab to Merrill Field and boarded a nine-seat Cessna … Continue readingBear Camp – Behind the Scenes
A Perfect Week with Bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska I spent most of the morning watching a brown bear lazily grazing through willows and alders on the far side of a lake in Katmai National Park. I was comfortable in my camp chair under … Continue readingA Bear’s Life (Katmai National Park)
The Flood Spring of 2022 brought a “once in 500 years” flood to Yellowstone National Park, prompting evacuations and an unprecedented full closure of the Park. Flows in the Yellowstone River were recorded at 50,000 cubic feet per second (cf/s) on the morning of June … Continue readingForce of Nature: The 2022 Yellowstone Flood
I’m surprised at how many bears I saw at close range during this first week of June. I didn’t expect any real bear encounters here. I thought they’d all be binocular or spotting scope distance away. On my first morning out, a private guide pointed … Continue readingYellowstone Bears
People often ask how I find the wildlife that I photograph. It’s a combination of honed observational skills, preplanning, and luck. It’s hard to learn the intricacies of microhabitats and animal routines in a few days. The people who know put a lot of time … Continue readingTips for Finding Wildlife in Yellowstone
In Yellowstone National Park, the Junction pack’s Slough Creek Den failed. They had had four surviving five-week-old wolf pups last seen on the day of my arrival in Gardiner. The pack has since abandoned the den site. Winter was rough even by Yellowstone standards; long … Continue readingFox Family
The HerbivoresBison In Yellowstone National Park, bison begin calving in early spring. Their young, colloquially known as “red dogs,” are the first wildlife babies, usually appearing in Lamar Valley and Little America in April. By early June, when I visited, it seemed like a full … Continue readingSpring Wildlife Watching in Yellowstone National Park
Searching, Pushing I had spent the morning driving around the northern tier of Yellowstone National Park; no activity at the Slough wolf den, and Lamar Valley was quiet, with all the wildlife being spotting-scope distance away. I spotted some bighorn ewes near Specimen Ridge on … Continue readingYellowstone Badgers
Let Nature Heal You I awoke to word from home about yet another hiccup in one more seemingly straightforward home improvement project. I’ve been in Anchorage, Alaska, for a week. I arrived on a record-setting cold April day at the end of a record snowfall … Continue readingBlack Bears in Anchorage
Day Two “Delusional in the Woods” Swan River, Montana First Location Since we got through so many questions yesterday, we started at 9 am today. Piling into the SUVs again, we drove to the nearby Swan River. River habitats attract so much life. Water is … Continue readingTrack and Sign Certification (day two)