Clear weather today! It makes for a much easier drive.

On the way up to Undine I notice bison tracks and the occasional “deposit”. As I approach Lava Creek, the makers of the tracks appear. It’s a sizeable bison herd, traveling slowly east, and a sizeable line of cars and guide vans stuck behind them.

A single tiny red dog is with them! Wow, that poor thing. There are sometimes very late births in bison herds. This one has to deal with winter conditions at a very young age.

The road is still icy and, understandably, no-one wants to push the bison in these conditions. When they finally get to Wraith Falls, they enter the meadow to the north, and we finally have a clear road.

We gather again at Nature Trail where we find the Rescues in the same place I saw them yesterday afternoon. But today we get a special treat: no wind!

The wolves are bedded, spread out on a windswept ridge near the Triangle Forest.

I see what I think is a bedded gray wolf, but when a black climbs up and stands on it, I realize it’s a rock!

I count 8 wolves this morning; 7 black and the lone gray. Other watchers see more. It is believed they have a carcass down the hill out of sight.

They have a nice howl session followed by a rally.

A black wolf (likely a pup) moves away from the group, exploring to the west. A coyote comes up from the likekly carcass area and gets out of town.

A second black appears much further left. Neither wolf seems to notice the coyote sneaking between them to safety.

Over the course of the morning, I see two attempted mountings but they both come to nothing.

Around 8:30 I head east. I see some cars at Hellroaring so I stop. Gabriel is here. I’m glad to meet him as he posts excellent reports on Laurie’s site. He works at OF and on his days off, he takes a sno-mo to Mammoth where he leaves his car.

He says he saw a few Junctions from here briefly about a half hour ago, but they are now out of sight.

He says they came out of the Little Buffalo drainage, then began to run, disappearing behind a low rocky knoll, west of the Suspension bridge.

He says he then saw a coyote running out from behind the rocky knoll on the west side. But the wolves never re-appeared.

We wonder if perhaps there might be an old (or new) carcass back there behind the knoll. The way they ran and the appearance of the coyote could mean they were flushing other critters off it.

He and I scope for a half hour but see nothing.

I move on and have to stop for a mule deer crossing the road. From Lower I hear coyotes howling and find four of them near Tornado Drainage.

I scope a while, enjoying the lack of wind for once!

I continue east and have to brake for a coyote in the road at Elk Creek Curve

My next stop is a Long pullout, where I check the remains of a days-old carcass to the south. Four coyotes and many birds are happily feeding on it.

I run into Gabriel again at Crystal. He spotted a single black up above Crystal Rock about a half hour ago from Boulder.

He says he and others have been hearing continual mournful howling from this area off and on, but no one had been able to find it.

We scope the area from here. He finds what we first think are two gray wolves up there but then we realize they are coyotes.

We also find a dozen sheep on Specimen.

We move to Crystal and see a large crowd on the north side, watching badgers. I see both of them.

Calvin and Lynette radio from Canyon West. Calvin has found the howler.

I join them and see a handsome black wolf high up on the Middle Ridge skyline. Calvin saw a lean-forward, so we know he is a male. He is walking north towards the high point of Specimen.

We agree he is collared, dark black overall, with a bit of gray/white on his lower muzzle. He looks quite healthy, a wolf in his prime.

He runs downhill towards a small bison herd, then ignores them to rush across the slope at some sheep. The sheep find safety on a small cliff below the high point.

After this we lose the wolf, so we drive back west. Jeff has now joined us in the search. Jeff goes to Boulder, I go to Longs and Calvin and Lynette go to Straightaway.

Then Jeff sees the wolf from Boulder, up on Specimen heading west. Calvin and Lynette move to Curve and find the wolf once more.

We all gather there and see him bedded on top of the western end of Specimen. He howls again, and we speculate that he might be looking for a female.

It’s now 3PM and a very toasty 41 degrees. The clouds have given way to sun and boy does it feel good!

Yet another coyote crosses road in Little America, probably heading to the carcass south of Long pullout. Boy, this has been a banner day for me seeing coyotes!

Alas, the wolf goes uphill and out of sight. It’s getting late and I haven’t done my stretches yet, so I bid my friends adieu and head back west.

I stop at the Nature Trail lot, where watchers Jill & Mike have found the Rescues again. They saw 12 earlier but right now only 4 remain in sight (3 blacks & the single gray)

I would like to stay a bit but guess what? The wind is back! So, I end up going in so I’ll have time to do my stretches before dinner.

Today I saw: 2 badgers, bison (and a red dog), 11 coyotes, 2 mule deer, elk, 13 wolves: 12 Rescues (11 black and 1 gray) plus one mystery wolf (a collared black adult) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.