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Winter to Spring: PHOTOS FROM THE HEART OF YELLOWSTONE By Samara Chapman Duffey
A Yellowstone Park guide and photographer offers rare glimpses into the vibrant life found in a snowcovered Yellowstone National Park. Samsara Chapman Duffey offers her unique perspective and the story behind the photo.
THE ICONIC BISON This image was captured on a cold (probably around or below 0) morning along the Madison River. The Madison doesn’t freeze from the West Entrance to Madison Junction and provides a wonderful winter refuge for feathered and furred animals. The bison are so well insulated the cold doesn’t seem to bother them and they are often coated in frost on these chilly mornings. On this particular day, the morning sun was just at the right angle to give this guy a beautiful halo. THE PACK I think the #1 request of Park visitors is to see wolves. The winter of 2021/2022 gave us phenomenal viewing opportunities when a pack decided to hang out in the Lower Geyser Basin and hunt bison along the road. This winter was different. I know a pack was seen in early January, then some of us guides would see a single animal’s tracks along the road, but no other sightings were reported. Then, on February 6, I looked upstream along a thermal-fed stream and saw a single black wolf fading in and out of the steam. We were able to stop and spend 5 minutes with the larger group of about 10 wolves before they disappeared into the steam and trees, after treating us to a group howl. SNOW-KEPT SECRETS On the morning of January 9, I was traveling upstream in Firehole Canyon and looking toward the view of Firehole Falls when one of my passengers said, “There is a dead coyote across the river!” I put the coach in reverse and backed up. Sure enough, there was a carcass, but it was a female mule deer, not a coyote. The snow at the base of the lava flow cliff was mostly untouched except for two impact craters. The deer had made the larger and then bounced to where we saw it. Scanning the hillside, I saw a single set of tracks from the smaller crater that led up to the base of the cliff where a bobcat was sitting. For the next ten days, the cat feasted on and protected the carcass. One of the first things it did was to cover the deer with snow. This image was taken three days later during one of the few times some ravens thought about trying to share. The bobcat watched them as they flew over, then thought better about approaching the cat too closely. PAGE 34