Last night’s wind seems to have brought new weather.

At 4:45 I find blowing snow and some accumulation on my car. It’s 35 and still windy.

Soda Butte Valley has poor visibility. The snow has stopped but the roads are wet.

I set up on the Little Hill at Slough. Frank tips me off that a hunting party, including the alphas, just set off to the west.

There are still two adult wolves visible in the den area; a black on the gully ridge and an uncollared gray near the den. The black gets up and does a “lean forward”. Aha, it’s the handsome black male.

He starts moving to the west, very likely following the hunting party.

I decide to join Frank on Dave’s Hill, where I also find Maureen and Rick and a few others. It is a better view overall from up here.

The uncollared gray walks upslope and beds near 890’s tree. A previously unseen black adult emerges from the gully. The consensus it that this wolf has a collar and is likely 1385F. She beds just west of the den.

While these two wolves enjoy their morning nap, we are entertained by bears. Bill calls in a grizzly in the rocks above the right end of the den cliff, while Rick B finds a different grizzly out in the yellow grass meadow.

I find a black bear above the den cliff below the first grizzly. A third grizzly is spotted above the bright green aspen to the right of the horizontal forest.

I turn south to scan the high slopes of Specimen. Luck is with me again as I find the cliff-loving grizzly sow with her three coys. They are on skyline above some snow patches.

Just before 8AM, Maureen spots a collared gray returning to the den area from the west. It’s 907.

Yay!

She goes straight to the den and the pups come out to greet her. They swarm her, hopping about on their short little legs. She lies down to nurse them for quite a while.

Mother and babes all look good and healthy. She moves two or three times and each time the pups dutifully follow. She finally beds to the left of the den and they all snuggle down for another bout of nursing.

Then one by one they wander back inside the den on their own. Another bear is spotted to the south on Middle Ridge. It’s the sow with two. I get just a q uick glimpse of this family before they go out of sight. Wow, that’s 10 grizzlies and 1 black bear for me already this morning!

Around 10AM I head back to my car.

I stop in the lot to chat with old timer Wayne, Kathie L and Bob. Suddenly Frank radios “natal den”!

I re-set my scope and look north. A grizzly has made a poor choice to wander down towards the natal den and the western trees. He is now being chased away by the vigilant adults, especially 1385F. She nips at his rear end relentlessly as he runs away down the hill.

When things calm down, I head east for my break.

I end up staying in for the evening, absorbed in the news of the day. A NYC jury found the orange-faced, wannabe dictator guilty of 34 counts of fraud. Con man is now a convicted felon. Thank you, jury. Thank you, Alvin Bragg.

Today I saw: 1 black bear, 10 grizzly bears (including 5 cubs), bison (and calves), a coyote, elk, pronghorn, 7 Junction wolves (907F, 1385F, an uncollared gray, handsome black male and all three pups) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.