TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): sleeting hard on the drive down. After Trout ake, the sleet stops. Fog in Lamar and at Slough. Quite beautiful. Temp not recorded. Sun out by 6:45AM

Late AM (9-noon) did not record temps. Leave Slough around 11:30

Evening: 4:30-9PM - I stay in tonight

Snow Level (roads/landscape):

Water/Ice Level (ponds and rivers):

CROWD: normal busy for May

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: Another nice morning with Junctions and pups at Slough. Two babysitters with 1385 at the den. Three adults howl from the Crystal area. 1385 howls back, as if saying come over here. Only the OCG obeys. She nurses the pups, then the OCG come up and feeds her. One Mollie wolf seen in Lamar to the south.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 12 wolves total, all Junctions, from Slough, both north and south in the AM

6 Junction adults 4B/2G (including 1385F, 1478F, 1545F, the uncollared limping black, another uncollared black and the uncollared gray, plus all 6 pups at Slough from Daves in the morning

COMMENTS (wolves): I am glad to have seen 1478F today. There is some disfunction between her and alpha 1385 that has caused her to den on Jasper. But she seemed calm today, and content to remain where she is. It also seems like the pack is regularly visiting and feeding her.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Black bear: cinnamon black bear on the south side below Crystal (from Daves in AM)

Grizzly: a dark bear roaming near the SRT at Slough (from Daves in the AM)

Bison: various usual places

Coyote: AM sighting of a pair of coyotes east of the campground road below Dave’s

Sandhill crane: Slough

Elk: grazing in the Slough den area.

Marmot: large fellow, sunning on a bare rocky knob west of Slough den

Moose: Before I go to bed, Maureen and Rick and I enjoy seeing a moose walk across Lauries front yard.

Pronghorn: racing about near Slough

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) I start at the Eastern lot again with Carla Rae, Matt and Rick. Fog makes for tricky viewing for the first hour. Early birds on Daves tell us 1479F just left the area, heading south.

As the fog lifts, I see three blacks: Limper, 1385F and 1545M. All bedded separately in grass and sage. The usual elk appear and approach them but the wolves barely raise their heads.

Around 6:45 the sun reaches the sage den. 1545 walks over and the pups come out. I often wonder if the babysitters presence there prompts the pup appearance, or if the pups make some sort of sound when they want to come out, prompting the babysitters attention. I need to ask Jeremy.

The pups wobble around, playing with each other. 1385F watches but stays bedded. Pups begin to interact with the bedded adults. The activity is more subdued today; more exploration, less romping, but still delightful to see.

Around 8AM a distant howl is heard over the morning birdsong. The three adult wolves howl back, then converge for a rally. They sit on their haunches looking intently to the south.

The distant howling is heard again. Now the three move downslope a bit, stopping in the meadow parallel to the small diagonal forest.

Watchers on Daves find wolves near Crystal Rock; two grays and an uncollared black. One of the grays is collared.

The limping black starts down the northside slope in earnest, followed by 1385F and 1545M. I relocate to Dave's hill to watch the rest. By the time I get set up, the three northside blacks are already approaching the SRT.

I locate the howlers to the south and see the uncollared gray leave the other two in favor of crossing to the north side. He does so very quickly, even for a wolf.

We now see him in deep sage enthusiastically greeting the three blacks.

The remaining south side wolves move east and back upslope, finally topping out on Northern Divide Ridge. Although I cannot be certain, I believe the collared gray was 1478F.

1385F leads the way back to the den at a brisk trot. The three males tool around in the sage, finding tidbits to eat, digging and half-heartedly chasing bison.

1385 arrives back at the den and nurses the pups who come out to greet her. This particular nursing session lasts a long time. She then beds left of the den where shes hard to see. The pups continue to explore.

The three males do not seem in a hurry to return.

There are many more people up on Daves today than is usual. Most of us share our scopes, but doing so means I miss a bit of the action. While I am helping a visitor see a pup, she comments "oh yes, I see the gray coming up".

What?

The UCG has returned, bouncing his way through the spring meadow. 1385 dashes down to him and he gives her a feeding. His tail is whirling like a helicopter rotor.

Then he bolts up to the pups as they come rushing down to him. It is a love-fest. The little back pups climb all over him and he lets them, rolling sideways. 1385 seems to appreciate his giving her a rest.

Next to arrive is 1545M. He, too receives a warm puppy greeting and they crawl over him. We comment to each other how these two young wolves have been terrific with the pups.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) I leave Slough around 11:30 and miss a Mollies sighting in Lamar. Then head back to Silver Gate.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) I stay in this evening to catch up on needed sleep

WHAT I MISSED: While I am up on Daves, Frank goes to Lamar and sees Mollies wolf 1485M (gray) in the old Druid rendezvous area, trying to snag a bison calf. By the time I arrive (around 11:30) he has gone out of sight in the trees behind the western foothill.

TODAY I SAW: a black bear, a grizzly bear, bison (and calves), coyotes, sandhill cranes, elk, geese and four goslings, a marmot, a moose, pronghorn, 12 wolves (Junctions 1385F, 1545M, uncollared gray, collared gray, Big limping black, another black adult plus 6 black pups) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS I USE, 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)