TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM):28 in SG at 5:30AM clear, moon & stars

Late AM (9-noon) clear, low 50s (SBV) left for break at 11:30

Evening: 4:30-9PM clear, 60s (SBV) in SG by 8PM

Snow Level (roads/landscape): Roads clear; snow on high peaks, still deep in Lamar and RP, lingering roadside between RP and Silver Gate

Water/Ice Level (ponds and rivers): Ice on Blacktail ponds, Floating Island Lake; Lamar muddy

CROWDS COMMENTS: typical for April

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: Junctions are seen at first light at Slough but I am too late. I go west and find Rick watching Rescues on Everts. Early birds saw many more but I see 3 around 8AM. Late morning I see the Mollies (full pack) in SBV and again in the evening.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 12 total wolves from two packs

3 Rescues 2B/1G (including the alpha female, collared black and uncollared gray) on the eastern slope of Everts in the AM, seen from dirt lot east of Ponds

9 Mollies 3B/6G (full pack) seen around 10AM from SB mid-point; then again in the evening, same place. They cross the road at dusk to visit the bison carcass north of SB East.

COMMENTS: It was great seeing the Mollies with Laurie and Dan and Krisztina in SB Valley. Felt like old times with the Druids or Lamars.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Bison: Blacktail through Lamar.

Coyote: near the SB carcass in the evening

Elk: grazing near Spring Meadow at Slough (AM)

Moose: (2) First in south of Blue bird tree around 7-7:30. Second a cow around 9:30AM on the north side, having crossed east of Fisherman, seen with Bill from Coyote.

Pronghorn: Little America

Bighorn ram: one ram grazing near elk in Spring Meadow at Slough (AM)

COMMENTS: Soda Butte East bison carcass was not predation but either a natural death or maybe a car accident.

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM)

Junctions are seen at first light at Slough but I arrive too late. I go west and find Rescues. The main pack had been seen on Everts, 1490, a large collared black (1393M or 1293M?) and the uncollared gray (female?) were bedded separately on the eastern slope of Everts.

We hear single deep voice howl from above. Then a chorus howl. The three get up and travel towards the pack up Everts and out of sight. 1490 looks pregnant to me and has a slight limp . The collared black is dark with a graying chin.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) On my way back east from seeing the Rescues, I join watchers at SB Midpoint lot around 10AM. Mollies are south of the road heading east, wanting to go to the bison carcass on the north side opp SB Midpoint but were thwarted by people. Tammy found them while looking for the sow with tiny coy up on the Norris fingers.

The wolves bedded and seemed restless. Most move uphill into trees out of sight. Black female remains bedded in view, close to north side of SB creek.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) Laurie & Dan and Krisztina and I park at SB Midpoint around 5:30PM. Many more at Logs and SB East. Black female in view in a similar spot. We wait

Howling at 7:30PM, then they moved stealthily to the road a bit east of logs pullout. Most people stayed in their pullouts, a few drove east. Grays crossed first, black female in the road for a minute. When I left, all but two grays had crossed and were on the carcass (we were in SB Midpoint lot).

SPECIAL NOTE: When I stop at Pebble to empty my trash bag in the still-dark, I hear owls hooting to each other in the trees northwest of the lot.

WHAT I MISSED: Early birds see Junctions at Slough but are already out of sight by the time I arrive.

TODAY I SAW: bison, coyotes, elk, two moose, pronghorn, a bighorn ram, 12 wolves from two packs; 3 from Rescue Creek (including 1490F, a collared black - possibly alpha 1393M - and an uncollared gray) plus 9 Mollie’s (including 6 gray males and 3 black females) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.

> ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ABBREVIATIONS:

DF: Diagonal Forest (a feature east of the Slough den)

DPH: Dead Puppy Hill, the partly treed hill below the crest of Mt. Norris immediately south of Footbridge pullout. Named by coyote researchers before the 1995 wolf reintroduction. The hill has been a popular area with local wolf packs since wolves were reintroduced. It has held several coyote dens over the years, but to my knowledge, this year is the first time a wolf pack has denned on it. The Mollies chose an area on the western slope above the new growth forest, and produced at least two pups, one black and one gray, which were seen infrequently during June.

HF: Horizontal Forest (another feather east of the Slough den

HR: Hellroaring (large overlook pullout on the Blacktail)

LCW: Lamar Canyon West (pullout on the western side of Lamar Canyon) that overlooks a lot of, but not all of, the area wolves use at Slough.

MST: Marge Simpson Tree (distinctive tree in Slough Flats) In 2024, the Junctions used the meadows below and left of Marge as their August-October rendezvous.

OGR: "The OGR" Old Gardiner Road (current name for the new road hastily constructed after the 2022 flood on top of the former gravel road between Mammoth and Gardiner)

RP: Round Prairie (big meadow south of Pebble Creek campground)

SB: Soda Butte (or SBV Soda Butte Valley) where Soda Butte Creek flows between Round Prairie and its Confluence with the Lamar River)

SG: Silver Gate (small town just outside the northeast Park entrance)

SRT: Southern Round Tree (distinctive tree south of the Marge Simpson Tree)

UCG: Un-collared gray (Junction 2 yr-old bouncy male). Born to the Rescue Creek Pack, he joined the Junction Pack sometime in February 2025.

YGM: Yellow Grass Meadow (a feature east of and upslope of the Horizontal forest at Slough)