Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
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
The Smoky Mountains aren’t a place for quiet, intimate, or prolonged wildlife encounters. It’s a place for the masses to get a glimpse of the wild that could change their life. And that’s just as important. My go-to methods for finding local wildlife consist of … Continue readingFinding Bears in the Smoky Mountains
Desert Promises The desert doesn’t tug at my heartstrings as the mountains do. I prefer more green in my landscapes, and I’m not enamored with the heat – even the dry heat. But, every new place has a personality, surprises, and lessons to teach. With … Continue readingKolob Canyon, Zion National Park
The Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit is more rugged than the expansive South Unit. Sixty-five miles of private land separate the two. There is one 14-mile out-and-back road in the North Unit that snakes up to acrophobic overlooks along the river gorge. In light … Continue readingTheodore Roosevelt National Park – North Unit
A guest post by Rob I went out fishing during our most recent stay in Alaska at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park. One afternoon I went out with a guide and another couple to fish. We fished a bend in the … Continue readingA Fed Bear
Getting There Driving west on I-94, it’s fast and flat through Minnesota and most of North Dakota. I pass crowded fields of sunflowers, their dry seed heads fixed toward the sky, flat terrain pockmarked by small lakes and rolling fallow crop fields. Until suddenly, the … Continue readingTheodore Roosevelt National Park – South Unit