There is accumulated sleet on the car this morning, and it’s still coming down.

When I get to Lamar Valley, I’m not surprised to see fog. Luckily, the flats are clear while the higher levels are shrouded.

Watchers are spread out from Confluence to Dorothy’s, but no-one has any Mollies in view. I scan a while from Hubbard, but then continue to Slough.

I set up as usual at the gravel lot. Early birds tell me that several Junction wolves have just chased the “brown pants” bear away from the den area. I see him exiting above the den cliff to the east.

The five successful guard-wolves are 907F, 1478F, the alpha male, a collared black (1477 or 1385) and an uncollared gray.

With the bear safely gone, 907 moves to the den opening. The pups come out and she nurses them. Aww!

The alpha male beds below the eastern trees and the collared black takes a long, circuitous walkabout.

Celia finds a second bear up in the high drainage above the Horizontal Forest.

Doug Mac radios from Soda Butte Valley (his radio is the only one with a range this good). He’s found the Mollies.

I pack up and follow others headed that way. Unbeknownst to me, intrepid 1479F has chosen this moment to return to the den area from one of her solo journeys to the east. I see her as she crosses the campground road just ahead of me, causing a big slow-down-jam, but she makes it safely across and into the flats.

When I arrive in Soda Butte Valley, the Footbridge lot is already packed with cars, including several tucked against the hill on the north side. Doug says the wolves are currently out of sight to the south, somewhere east of Footbridge.

I drive on and park at Western Curve. I see several people at Eastern Curve with scopes pointed south. I follow their line of sight and find three wolves directly south of me, above the creek bank and just above the low line of trees. They are moving west, aiming for the eastern side of Dead Puppy Hill.

I end up seeing six total, including a gray that stops to roll in something. I only catch sporadic glimpses of them through the trees. Some are running, some are walking.

They reach thick forest on the east side of Dead Puppy Hill. Despite having so many eyes looking from the Footbridge lot, they avoid detection until they come out the other side.

They are now visible on the western shoulder of Norris, continuing west towards the Lamar River.

I move to Confluence east and join Rick & Maureen. Rick spots them briefly and helps us all get a quick glimpse. We move to Geriatric and join Fay and Dale already in place.

As I climb up, they see several Mollies run through the river bottoms. They swim the river and continue running into thick willows.

By the time I get set up, the wolves are out of sight, but Fay shows me where they disappeared. Putting it all together, we think they either just caught something, or they were returning to a carcass they got earlier.

After about a half-hour of hope-scoping, a gray with a red face emerges right of the thick willows. He beds down and starts to clean his face. One by one, more wolves begin to emerge from the same spot, all with pink or red snouts. Clearly they have been eating something fresh.

Eventually I see all eight, five gray and three black, the same count I had last evening.

They bed down to sleep off their meal. It’s still early so I head back to the Little Hill at Slough, to see what’s going on with the Junctions.

It’s become quite windy, so I use the big boulder as a wind-break.

I find an uncollared gray bedded near the western trees. 1479F comes out of the den and walks a bit to the east. The gray gets up and trots to the den. 1479 comes back and they both go inside.

They both quickly come back out, bedding on opposite sides of the den entrance. The three pups come out and begin climbing, crawling and tumbling over these two adults.

One black pup goes to investigate the antler (a marker below the den opening that often helps me find it). Both adults get up and stand below the antler, as if to prevent the pup from going further downhill. The pup seems to get the message and wobbles back upslope.

The other black pup explores the hillside above the den. Both adults intercept this pup, too. They both sit down and let the pup crawl on them instead.

Around 11AM, the sky begins to cloud up again, so I head east.

I see Bill at Picnic so I stop to chat with him. He shows me a new grizzly family he’s just found up on Ski Slope. It’s a sow with a single coy, digging and grazing way up there. The coy is adorable, romping and sliding down a snow patch under mom’s watchful eye.

I see Dale and Fay still up on Geriatric. They have the Mollies bedded in view, in pretty much the same spot.

On my way east, I spot two foxes patrolling the road near Baronette.

After a break in Silver Gate, I head back in around 4:45.

At Pebble Creek I another red fox is mousing.

As I get to Footbridge, I radio ahead for a Mollie’s update. Gary answers that he and Matt are up on Trash Can Hill looking for bears. They have no wolves in view.

I join them anyway and learn they were told the Mollies moved during the rain and have not been spotted again.

However, they DO have a grizzly to show me, a big boar up on Druid peak. I realize that the place I last saw the Mollies is not viewable from here, so I tell them I’m going back to Geriatric to check.

And my instinct proves correct. I see Celia in place, waving and pointing south with both thumbs up. She has them!

When I get set up, I see that the Mollies DID move, but not very far from where they had been. Right now they are bedded flat out, probably too low to be seen from around the corner on Trash Can hill.

It’s a pleasant evening but the wolves don’t move much. Just a bit of head up, turn around and re-bed. Dale and Fay join us, as do several other visitors.

It’s always good to be seeing wolves in Lamar Valley, especially with good friends.

There is a large number of black birds on the ground, to the left of the bedded wolves. Although it is common to see scavenger birds near wolves, there are just so many, 40-50 it seems unusual. There is no carcass right here, and they are spaced out at fairly even intervals, rather than gathered.

Later, I mention this to Bob L. He suggests we were not seeing ravens but a flock of crows. He says they were probably just out in the meadow eating bugs, which accounts for why they seemed to be evenly spaced from each other.

See? There is always more to learn about Yellowstone’s wildlife.

Around 7pm a black bear shows up behind the wolves, walking west right at tree line. Then Fay spots a grizzly moving through the rendezvous. He seems to be following a scent but it not really close to the wolves.

The big griz stops straight out from our spot. He lowers his head into deep sage. Looks like he’s found whatever he was smelling, but we can’t see what it is.

Meanwhile, the Mollies are still lounging and dreaming. Finally around 8PM they start to rouse themselves.

1411F (the collared black female who almost always leads this group) gets up and walks south through the scattered crows into the tree line. After a while, she comes back out and returns to the nappers. She visits several individuals, clearly trying to get them up.

A few do, reluctantly. They have a howl session and follow it with a body- slamming, tail-wagging rally. 1411 moves to the west. Soon she stops when she realizes none of them is following. She returns and they have another rally as if to welcome her back.

She tries heading west again. Again, not a single wolf is yet willing to follow her. She beds and howls. They howl back and have another rally without her.

Then they all re-bed! This makes me laugh.

It’s now nearly 8:30 and the Mollies seem just as settled as they were at 5:30. So, I bid my friends adieu and head down to my car.

On my way back I find several mule deer in Silver Gate, including a pair just east of Dan’s wood pile.

Today I saw: 1 black bear, 5 grizzly bears including one coy, bison, coyotes, mule deer, elk, 2 foxes, 17 wolves (9 Junctions including 907F, AM, 1478F, 1478F, a collared black, an uncollared gray plus the three pups) and 8 Mollies (including 1090F, 1339M, 1411F and five others and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.