Today is the spring equinox and it is very welcome, indeed.

As usual, I stop briefly at Round Prairie and Picnic to listen for howling. But I hear only birdsong and a distant coyote.

I join Jeff and Helena at Lamar Canyon West to scan the Marge Simpson tree area for Junctions. Rick has already looked from here with no results, so he goes west to join the Crew looking for Rescues.

We find nothing either but are not ready to give up. Jeff goes back east to Lamar while Helena and I climb the just northwest of Lamar Bridge to find an angle where we can see the area behind Marge.

Alas, the hill offers only views of sage. But then Jeff summons us to Dorothy’s. He has howling from Jasper Bench.

I end up joining Jeff at the Ranch, where he is already looking south. He’s found the alpha pair and a collared gray (1478F) on the far side of the Lamar, traveling east. Aha! This is why we never saw the alphas at Slough yesterday. They were still in Lamar!

907 does a lot of howling as they travel. They also stop several times, looking intently east. We suspect there are other wolves ahead of them.

Laurie & Dan stop to say they have to drive to Bozeman to pick up some medicine for Laurie. She takes a peek through my scope so at least she has seen wolves for the day!

Jeff and I relocate several times in order to follow the trio along the usual route. They are in good view for a long time, with 907 bringing up the rear. She looks pregnant to me.

Rick joins us on Trash Can hill. The wolves stall out just past the double foothill. We hear reports from people at Footbridge that howling can be heard from somewhere on Dead Puppy Hill.

As the wolves settle down in the old Druid rendezvous, we begin to hear howling coming from further east. The alphas hear it, too, and seem spurred into action. They get up and move east at a distinctly faster clip.

I now relocate to Geriatric while others go to Confluence. Bob L is already up here when I arrive. He has the alpha group in view, now bedded on the old riverbank, staring east into the Confluence area.

Bob is watching a pair of ravens building a nest in one of the cottonwood trees that grows along the Lamar.

The howlers on Dead Puppy Hill have been moving steadily west, according to watchers at Footbridge and Hitching post. They see four individuals, three blacks and a gray. Judging from how calm the alphas seem to be, I’m sure the other four are Junctions as well.

About a half hour later, the other wolves appear on the high sage flat above the Confluence, traveling west in front of the trees that line the eastern end of the Druid Rendezvous area.

Two blacks are collared and one is 1479F. There is an uncollared gray and an uncollared black with them. I’m not sure who the other collared black is. They move at a brisk clip, sniffing here and there. Bob and I both anticipate a reunion with the alphas, but instead the foursome pass by the position of the bedded alphas, like ships in the night.

When they are well west of the alpha’s position, the alpha male stands and watches them as if wondering what the heck is wrong with them?

Finally, it occurs to him to howl.

When he does, the four younger wolves stop and turn towards the sound. 1478F takes things a step further and trots away from the alphas, a few hundred yards towards the others, wagging her tail in the universal sign of friendliness.

The four young wolves stare at 1478, separated by perhaps a quarter mile.

Suddenly the four wolves rush towards 1478F. She immediately tucks her tail. As they get closer, they increase their speed while she wheels and runs back towards the alphas.

But they catch her and roll her, pinning and nipping at her. I don’t see anything vicious, but it’s quite surprising to see how 1479F, not even a yearling yet, confidently dominates her older sibling.

It’s hard to tell if the four are having fun or making a point, but 1478 gets up and then here comes the alpha male with a very high tail. I can almost hear him calling out “That’s enough, now. Break it up!”

All five wolves greet Dad, mobbing him with wagging tails and submissive postures. 907 arrives with her tail equally high. She picks the collared back to stand over (not 1479).

Now they rally happily with lots of muzzle licking and nuzzling. It’s a very happy family again and soon they all bed down. I always wonder what noises the wolves make to each other during rallies – do they somehow let the others know where they have been and what they were doing? Do they just express how glad they are to be reunited? Do they complain of each other?

Now we have seven bedded wolves where we earlier had only three.

A coyote crosses the flat to the south, wisely keeping its distance from the wolves. I wonder if it’s the same one who bit the woman 10 days ago.

I tell Bob the coyote story, which he had not heard. He says he wondered about the new signs and now he knows.

The day has turned fine, with bright sunshine and barely a cloud in sight. But with only bedded wolves to watch and my back beginning to complain, I head down to drive back east.

I stop at the Confluence to visit with Jeff and Sian. They have the bedded Junctions in view right here from the flat pullout. I tell them I’m going in to do my stretches, but will join them when I return. Jeff jokingly promises to keep the wolves in view for me.

On my way back to Silver Gate I see a fox, completing my three-dog-day.

Then I manage to break Laurie’s downstairs shower door, scattering tiny shards of glass all over the place. Arrrghhh! Once I clean it up, I call Laurie to confess. They are now on their way back from Bozeman. She is gracious as always about my mishap.

I return to the Confluence, finding Jeff and Sian relaxing in camp chairs, as if it’s a summer day. Well, it might as well be. It’s 58 degrees!

The wolves are right where I left them, too.

Beth is across the road, crouching on the rocks at the river’s edge, watching dippers. She calls out to us and I think she may have found an otter. But when we get eyes on it, it turns out to be a mink!

This is a Yellowstone first for me.

The animal is very dark, the size of a baby otter, but it’s mid-March, and baby otters have not yet been born! I see it in the water, swimming to shore, but then it jets out and scurries along the uneven rocks. It moves with supreme confidence, with far more agility on rocks than an otter would have.

It goes out of sight way too soon, but we are all delighted to have seen it, even briefly.

Around 6PM Laurie and Dan stop by. They look through my scope to see the still-bedded Junctions. A couple of veteran wildlife watchers pull in to take a look at the wolves. They tell us they saw a black bear in Phantom Lake around 3PM. Honestly, I find this story hard to believe until they show us a photo!

I expected the Junctions would have begun to stir by now, but they are still flat out. So at 6:30 I follow Laurie and Dan back to Silver Gate.

They are graciously forgiving about the shower door. Of course I will have it replaced. Laurie thinks she might want a curtain instead, so we have fun looking at the various designs online.

Today I saw: bison, a coyote, a bald eagle, elk, a mink, ravens, bighorn sheep, 7 Junction wolves (including the alphas, 1477F, 1478F, 1479F an uncollared black and an uncollared gray) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.