I am out at 5:30 in 35 degrees. Silver Gate had heavy rain overnight and it’s still drizzling now.

The precipitation makes for a lot of wispy fog on the drive down.

My first stop is at Trash Can where I join Frank up on the hill, already scanning for Mollies. Instead, the bear watchers find a grizzly south of the river, heading east. It’s always nice to start the day with a griz!

The drizzle stops but fog still shrouds the high peaks. Luckily the lower slopes and the flats, where wolves are more l ikely to be, are clear.

Ginny finds a single black wolf south of Hubbard Hill, moving west at a good clip. I relocate to Ginny’s spot and see my first wolf of the day. This black is really hustling.

I pan ahead to see where the wolf is going and find a whole bunch of wolves having a rally. Yep. We’ve got Mollies!

The unfortunate bear runs right into the high-spirited pack. They toy with him, surrounding him and getting in a few nips while deftly avoiding his retaliatory swipes.

The exasperated bear heads up hill escorted by three Mollies. In a sure sign that they are only playing, one of the escorts stops to bed down.

The remaining two discover it’s more fun to chase each other than to bother a grumpy old bear.

After a while, the pack re-groups and starts to search for bedding spots low on Amethyst bench in front of the horizontal line of trees.

Someone notices a different wolf, a husky collared gray, traveling quickly east below Jasper Bench, on the far side of the river. Ginny points out that this wolf has a red face, which tips us off to the next discovery: a fresh bison carcass on a gravel bar of the river, south of Dorothy’s.

Aha! Looks like Krisztina was right; the Mollies did get a bison last night, possibly both mom and the tiny calf.

Laurie & Dan arrive and get set up. The red-faced gray climbs the hill and joins the now-bedded pack by the horizontal line of trees. Laurie recognizes 1048M among them, bedded at a slight remove from the others.

At the carcass, a GPS-collared gray is feeding. This wolf is soon joined by an uncollared gray; they feed together a short while. When the GPS gray leaves, it trots off to the west and is later seen crossing the road near Fisherman’s.

The uncollared gray remains a bit longer but when it leaves, it heads back east to where the Mollies are bedded.

When Laurie and I compare notes later, we realize that the GPS gray is most likely NOT a Mollie, but Junction wolf 1478F; the same wolf that was chased by the Mollies last evening.

Laurie suggests that 1478 may have remained in Lamar, saw the Mollies catch the bison, and waited her turn once they went off to nap.

The uncollared gray is most likely a Mollie youngster. Laurie reminds me that young wolves tend to get along with anyone.

I smile to think that 1478F will now likely bring this food back to 907 at Slough.

We relocate to Dorothy’s for a better view. Some of the younger Mollies hop up on some nearby boulders, posing nicely while the rest are bedded.

A coyote sneaks to the carcass and grabs a few bites while it is temporarily unattended before dashing away. Good timing, because two Mollies are now approaching it for a second breakfast.

These two are 1048M and a different uncollared gray. They cross the river and head to the feast. The gray begins to feed while 1048 walks past the carcass and seems to be searching for just the right spot.

He seems to find an “easy chair” and beds down, perhaps reliving old times.

Another grizzly appears on Amethyst bench. This one has an unusual look, some kind of condition that has affected his fur coat. His rear end and back legs are light brown/blonde while the rest of him is dark. It looks like he’s wearing a pair of brown pants! <> The bedded Mollies get up and have another rally. This movement allows me to confirm my overall count of ten: six grays and four black. They begin moving en-masse towards the carcass. Then they notice the brown pants bear going the same place. The wolves rush him, surrounding and toying with him as they did the earlier one.

The bear manages to escape. He rushes quickly towards the carcass and begins to feed, while the wolves seem nonchalant. They are likely quite full themselves. I tell Laurie I think the Mollies are “on vacation”.

While the bear feeds, the Mollies erupt in more play, enjoying each other’s company, chasing and tumbling with each other. Eventually they move back south without feeding, crossing the river and wandering up the slope between Amethyst and Jasper. They bed down in the “saddle” between the benches. Some of the youngsters amuse themselves stalking ground squirrels.

A long patch of mushy snow remains on this slope and the yearlings race each other across it, leaving tracks. Others find an appropriate boulder on which to play king of the rock.

After about a half hour of gorging, the brown-pants bear finally leaves the carcass, swims the river and manages to avoid the Mollies as he wanders away up hill.

1048 may have been waiting for others to leave. He now heads over to have his second breakfast in peace and quiet.

With things quieting down, I follow a few others to Slough to see what the Junctions are up to.

I find the alpha pair bedded near each other around 890’s tree. Nice. A bit later, 907 takes a wander around the western trees, then goes up to the natal den. She sticks her head inside then goes back to 890’s tree to nuzzle her mate.

She moves through the eastern tree trunks down to the spring meadow for a drink. She still looks pregnant. Usually, a wild wolf would have whelped her pups already – the “normal” date is mid-April. But at 11 years old, I am willing to believe that 907 knows what she’s doing.

A black wolf appears on the lip of the gully. It stands up briefly but not long enough for us to identify.

907 finishes her drink and goes towards the sage den. She digs a little bit, then disappears inside.

People come to Laurie with a report of a collared black who just crossed the road south of the road near the Lamar Bridge. She ID’s the wolf as 1479F.

We wonder if perhaps she got wind of the carcass in Lamar from older sister 1478 and wants to check it out?

At noon we head back to Silver Gate for a break.

Around 6PM I am driving back to the valley through a squall of corn snow. It turns to rain but doesn’t last long.

We stop at Dorothy’s and find the “brown pants” bear back on carcass below. The Mollies are still bedded on the slope between Amethyst and Jasper. Several yearlings begin to play on the snow patch like they did this morning.

I hear Laurie say “Wendy, there are too many blacks”.

I make a quick count and realize she’s right. I’m seeing 11 wolves. Then I notice that one of the blacks in the rambunctious group has a tightly tucked tail. This is a wolf we know well.

It’s Junction 1479F.

Judging by all the body-language behavior, it looks to us like she wants to join in the play with the Mollie youngsters and that they want to play with her but she is not her usual confident self. The Mollie youngsters have curiosity about her and interest in her. Neither of us detect any aggression.

But it’s quite unusual.

Laurie says she has never seen a single young wolf from a rival pack in the midst of 10 “foreign” wolves, especially when that pack has a documented history of wolf-on wolf carnage.

The playing group includes four Mollies, two blacks and two grays. 1479 makes the third black.

1479’s hesitancy gets the upper hand. She turns and starts to move east and across the flats towards the road, temporarily going out of sight behind a low hill.

When I locate her again, she has stopped. She is not relaxed but not trying to escape either. Several Mollies come closer to her, and I see one of them is 1048M! I know she’s related to him, but I have no idea whose “side” he is on. Several wolves suddenly rush her, and she bolts away.

My heart is in my throat.

But then all the wolves stop and nothing bad happens. One of the grays stays near her and the rest of the group seems to get distracted.

Laurie says they could easily have killed her right off if that was their intention. They didn’t do that. She reminds me that young wolves almost always get along. And she reminds me that so many wolves in the current Mollie’s pack are former Junctions. 1479 is related to many of them.

I suppose if the alpha female were here, it might be a different story. I am left puzzling about how 1479 might know that she’s not.

Another mystery.

The gray sticks with her as the others retreat. Her tail is still tucked, which I have to say, is a very different look on her. Since I first saw her in August last year, she has impressed me as a confident, intrepid young female. Even this shows her unusual moxie.

Laurie wonders if the gray with her might be a close relative, perhaps an older brother, one who helped feed her last year?

I find this to be an absolutely fascinating development in the world of Yellowstone wolves, and feel very lucky to have witnessed it.

It’s starting to get dark, so I send good wishes to 1479 and head back to Silver Gate.

Today I saw: 3 grizzly bears, bison (and calves), coyotes, elk, pronghorn, 15 wolves; 10 Mollies, including 1048M, 1090F, 1339M and seven others) 5 Junctions (including 907F, alpha male, 1477F, 1478F, 1479F) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.