A Family Hike Up Mount Washburn, Yellowstone

It all started as a harmless hike up Mount Washburn.

The four of us, two adults and kids ages seven and ten were camped at Canyon and our hiking trip this day was to start early in the morning at the Mount Washburn Trailhead. This hike was received well by three of us. Upon parking and starting the hike up the mountain the hike was waylaid, like many, by me. I had spotted numerous birds, Clark’s Nutcrackers and grouse to name a couple and the bird photographer in me was interested and thus the trip up was delayed an hour or two. I couldn’t resist. These birds were posing. Eating seeds they went about their business without a real care that a dude was lying on the ground with a 500mm lens in hand. Luckily my family was good with this and they entertained themselves with the view and some meandering about until I had satisfied the photography urge.

Moving now toward the real hike, up Mount Washburn, I went thru the rules. The bear rules being the most important. It was late August and bears are attracted to Mount Washburn by the lure of white bark pine trees and their seeds. You see bears, both black and grizzly favor eating these seeds on Mount Washburn in August into September. So the main thing is if you see a black bear, freeze, don’t give up ground. If we see a grizzly, make ourselves big, gather together and slowly back away. Ok the  rules are set.

Beginning up the trail to the top is a fairly easy hike and we were looking forward to seeing and experiencing this mountain for the first time. As we started to ascend the mountain we could not have been 300 yards up the trail when a black bear popped out right in front of us just on the edge of the trail. Now having explained the basic black bear rule 3 of the 4 us froze ready to watch this bear go about his or her business from a reasonably safe distance. There were no cubs and I was comfortable viewing the bear at 50 yards or so. To me this bear has seen people, probably mulitple times and it was just on it’s way somewhere. But now, in a split two seconds my daughter of 7 starts to bolt back down the trail! The chase was on to grab her and stop this madness of which I did. But now the bear had been spooked and it trotted across the trail and ran down the mountainside with me pointing may camera and pushing the shutter button while simultaineaously holding my kid. The running shots were trash but I did get a couple at the begining of this experience that shows what we saw initially. Probably needless to say, but the hike was suspended at this point and we went to Dunraven Pass which is just a hop skip and jump down the road to see if the bear was headed there. No bear at Dunraven but all was now calm and we had an experience to be remembered for life. It ended up harmless too.

Mount Washburn Sightings

Yellowstone is a Birding Destination

The Beauty of Birds in Yellowstone Park

Geysers, Mountains, Beasts and Yes, Birds!

A trip to Yellowstone Park is a wonderous adventure. The highlights of this park are too many to list but I’ll bet most folks don’t know about one of them, birds. All kinds of birds.

I’ve visited Yellowstone Park many times and I still haven’t really taken it all in. The wonders of this park are endless. A walk down any trail and even a drive from spot to spot can produces lifetime memories. For a guy who is always looking for stuff and have been since I can remember I find Yellowstone to be a great birding destination. Let me preface this by saying I didn’t go to Yellowstone to go birding. In fact a fellow nature guy commented to me “You went to Yellowstone and came home with bird photos. You captured redtail hawks in Yellowstone ha ha ha!”

For me the birds are always a part of driving. Looking for birds of prey is a great game for a family on a road trip. On this road trip throughout Yellowstone the first birds noticed were summer tanagers and yes, redtail hawks. In fact I watched a redtail hawk hunt form a dead tree on the ground for longer than one might imagine.

Birds in Yellowstone are at almost every attraction with Mount Washburn and Mammoth Springs having the most species during my visits. On to some specifics. I had to take out my camera gear at the Canyon Campground because there were many Summer Tanagers. And on the way to Mount Washburn Redtail Hawks were incredibly common. As we in the midwest say “like robins”. On the mount Washburn Trail Head there were Mountain Bluebirds, Clark’s Nutcrackers, Roughed Grouse, Dusky Grouse, Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, Chipping Sparrows and a few more that I didn’t identify. Visiting Mammoth I saw and attempted to photograph Northern Flicker, House Finch, Black Billed Magpie, Sparrows of a few sorts, Robins, Juncos, Killdeer, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Kingbirds, Stellar’s Jays, Cedar Waxwings and some species I couldn’t ID.

To the best of my memory here is a list of the birds I saw during a single trip to Yellowstone.

• Swainson’s Hawk
• Ferruginous Hawk
• Redtail Hawk
• Bald Eagle
• Harrier
• Kestral
• Prairie Falcon
• Merlin
• Peregrine Falcon
• Dusky Grouse
• Roughed Grouse
• Sage Thrasher
• Common Raven
• Northern Flicker- Yellow and Red Shafted
• Black Backed Woodpecker
• Summer Tanager
• Mountain Bluebird
• Sparrows of a few varieties
• Gray Jay
• Stellars Jay
• Clarks Nutcracker
• American Dipper
• American Wigeon
• Killdeer
• Crow
• Hermit Thrush
• Goldfinch
• Mountian and Black Capped Chickadee
• Swallows of a couple varities
• Golden Crowned and Ruby Crowned Kinglet
• Cedar Waxwing
• Red and white Breasted Nuthatch
• Common Merganser
• Gadwall
• Harlequin
• Mallard
• Pintail
• Scaup
• Pie Billed Grebe
• Sora
• Sandhill Crane

This gives you an idea that there are great birding opportunities in Yellowstone! So when in Yellowstone it’s not just about bison, geysers and scenery…it’s the birds!

Birds of Yellowstone Park

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