DENALI - THE WILDLIFE, JUNE 24th and 25th

This is what you've been waiting for, isn't it? Us too!

The bus ride to Wonder Lake was such a superb day that we repeated the ride the next day as far as Eielson Visitor Center. Many pairs of eyes watching for wildlife make for a very productive day. Although the first shout-out was for an Arctic Ground Squirrel, things got progressively better.

The first sighting was a significant one. These caribou were peacefully grazing - not far from a sleeping grizzly. We watched as the caribou worked their way down and past the bear (lower right). The bear raised his head twice and looked around and promptly lowered it again, indifferent to them. Our first lesson in the dynamics of co-existence in the park. 

Red Fox

The animals rarely appeared to be affected by the buses. This red fox had a ground squirrel it was eating. Maybe he was going to stash it anyway, maybe the bus felt threatening, but he carried it back along the road twenty feet and buried it. As we watched, he dug it back up, carried it forward and then dropped it. As the driver, Beth, started to leave, the fox trotted alongside. It was the only time we saw evidence of an animal that might have felt disturbed by us. How much to encroach on the natural world is a recurring question.

Female Willow Ptarmigan

Male Willow Ptarmigan

Hoary Marmot

Dall Sheep

Lesser Yellowlegs

It was disturbing to see the clouds of insects haloing the heads of the moose. Sometimes they react to something (insect bite?) and run frantically. This one's hackles are raised quite a bit.

The caribou are often seen on the ice for the same reason.

The caribou seem not at all stressed by the bus. The drivers remind passengers about keeping completely inside the bus but ....

The grizzlies in Denali are very blonde. Not what we had expected. They are also relatively small as their diet is mostly vegetarian and they're browsing tundra. The big guys are the coastal ones feeding on oil-rich salmon.

We saw this sow and cubs on the way out and watched for a while. The cubs were two-year-olds.

They were closer on our return. The mom is blonde and the cubs are different colors and the product of different fathers.

One cub. Look at those powerful thighs. See a bear run and it abolishes any notion that they are big and slow!