TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): 41 (!) at 4:45 in SG

Late AM (9-noon) not recorded

Evening: 4:30-9PM sorry, not recorded

CROWD: normal for late May

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: Many less wolves today. Still, the Junction drama with 1479 remaining at the den continues. We also see her in the evening. Mollies were seen in the morning from Geriatric

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 5 wolves total from two packs

2 Junctions (1479F and 1545M) at Slough in the AM; 1479F also seen in the evening

3 Mollies (all grays) seen heading out towards Cache in the late morning. Others saw the whole pack but I got there late and saw only 3. I also see a gray in the evening but it might be one of the grays I saw in the late morning, so I am only counting it once.

COMMENT: I keep asking myself, why else would 1479F be at Slough unless she still has at least one pup in that den? Before the move, she was regularly nursing the six healthy pups, so she has formed a bond with them, even if she did not give birth to them. So why isnt she with them now? Because something has over-ridden that instinct: she must still have at least one pup in that den.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Black bear: a single bear just west of the Lamar south of Lamar Bridge.

Grizzly: From Slough roadside I see a grizzly sow with two yearlings, grazing up on Specimen.

Bison: various, usual spots in SBV, Lamar and Slough

Coyote: one seen in Slough flats in the AM from eastern lot;

Sandhill crane: Slough

Mule deer: several in three separate meadows both north and south on my way back to SG around noon. I see even more in the high meadows as I drive back to SG in the evening

Elk: A few seen east of the den area

Fox: 5 today! First, the local fox starts my day right, crossing the road east of the Park entrance. And another appears on the way back in around 5:30. At Slough in the evening, Faye makes a great spot of another fox, dashing around in the rocks west of the Parrot Rock. On my way back to SG this evening I see a fox south of Pebble Creek and another crossing the pothole bridge.

Geese: Slough

Mallards: a pair on a pond above the gravel pile lot at Slough, seen from Eastern Hill in the AM

Moose: a single moose in the owl meadow north of the road on my way in at about noon. I see this same moose in the same place on my drive back to SG in the evening.

Pronghorn: Slough and Lamar

Cinnamon teal: a pair on a pond above the gravel pile lot at Slough, seen from Eastern Hill in the AM

Green teal: a pair on a pond above the gravel pile lot at Slough, seen from Eastern Hill in the AM

Turkey vultures: Around 10:30 this morning, I walk over to finally check out the bison carcass south of the road. I can smell the carcass before I see it, so that tells you how close it is. I see two turkey vultures perched on low limbs above it, wings spread, sunning themselves.

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) Today I revert to the eastern lot, joining Matt and Carla Rae. Frank and Paul are, as usual up on Daves Hill. They had two black adults at first light but they had gone out of sight somehow.

6AM comes and goes without any wolves. I am beginning to lose faith that we will see them here today. Finally at 6:30, we see 1479F lift her head. She was bedded unseen to the right of the den all this time!

Then another black head pops up. 1545M is there, too! These two nap for the next hour, moving just often enough to prove they are still there.

At 7:30 1479F stands up and moves above the den. She then goes a bit west and has something in her mouth! Is it a pup? Whatever it is, she carries it into the den. Hmm, well, if it was a pup, it was definitely on the small side.

1545 gets up and walks down to the gully. He picks up a small antler but then leaves it on the gully ridge. He continues to the spring meadow and has a drink. He beds in the meadow a while.

He is still moving slowly but I belive it is a sign that he is healing if he is moving at all. If his injury were life-threatening, he would look worse than yesterday I think.

He takes a walkabout through the upper part of the lion meadow, then veers east. The sage is very thick here, and I lose him.

1479 is back out of the den. She takes a short walk below the western trees. At first she seems to be moving with purpose, but she stops and returns to the den, going inside.

Rick and I note that she has been inside the den more than outside this morning. She does not look agitated to me, but kind of subdued and maybe confused.

Around 9:15, Gisela radios that from her lot (gravel pile) she can see a collared black wolf moving downslope towards the creek. Faye and Dale and Krisztina and I climb the little hill behind the eastern lot to try to find that wolf.

And we do. It is 1545M, whom I last saw east of the lion meadow. He is now sitting on his haunches in tall grass among lots of pretty yellow flowers.

Soon he moves downslope a small pond with some ducks. He eases into the water and begins to wade slowly across, first going west, then back east. He spooks several duck pairs which swim away at first and then take to the air.

Faye is good with birds and identifies a pair of mallards, a pair of cinnamon teal and a pair of green teal! They all get out of his way. He does not really look like he is hunting, just exploring, and perhaps the water helps his hurts feel better.

Krisztina gets a really nice video, in which the wolf is framed by pretty yellow flowers on the hillside above and charming reflections of tall grass lining the pond in the placid water.

He leaves the water on the north side and beds in good view, so late-arriving visitors get a good look at him.

A bit after 10AM I start to feel the heat, so I head down to my car.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) After switching to cooler clothes, I head into Lamar and end up on Geriatric with members of the Mollies Fan Club.

I’ve already missed the good part of the sighting. They had at least 7 Mollies in view on the western slope of Norris, including 1090F, 1411F and 5 of the six grays. The pack is now headed south, towards Cache. I get set up in time to see the last three wolves (all grays) as they disappear over the hill.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) Becky and I have dinner at the Beartooth Café in Cooke with Steve and Robin and Maureen & Rick.

We arrive at Slough about 6:20, finding the sky cloudless and the sun blazing, which, unfortunately makes viewing quite difficult.

A lady who saw 1385 move the pups on Monday tells us that around 5PM this evening, they saw 1479 lower her head and pick up a small pup near the den. She says it was moving and 1479 carried it inside the den.

Then they watched her travel west, with nothing in her mouth, angling downslope towards the old carcass. After a while, we find her coming back up from there. She stops at the den, standing there a few minutes, then goes inside.

Faye and Dale are here, too. We all find it a little sad to see 1479 dealing with this major change all by herself.

We scope all around but never find any other wolves

We hear that Mollies are again in view in Lamar, so Becky and I go there and hike up Geriatric hill.

We see a single Mollies wolf (gray) on the western skyline of Mt. Norris. We are told that it just got a new-born elk calf. I can see the unhappy elk mom still nearby.

Becky and I watch the wolf a while, then hike back down to our cars and bid each other safe travels.

TODAY I SAW: a black bear, bison (and calves), mule deer, 4 foxes, geese, mallards, a moose, pronghorn, cinnamon and green teals, 5 wolves; 2 Junctions (1479F and 1545M) plus 3 Mollie’s (all grays, I could not see collars), and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

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)