American Bison at Yellowstone Gallery #2

This is the second of my two American bison in Yellowstone galleries. You can find the first gallery here. All of these pictures were taken in the fall of 2005 or 2007.

Adult Bison

Why Did the Buffalo Cross the Road? It didn’t, it stopped in the middle and posed for pictures. Bison own the roads at Yellowstone and they know it. I had gone to hike the Storm Point Trail but discovered the trail was surrounded by a large herd. Bison are normally pretty comfortable around people at Yellowstone, but they had their young with them and I didn’t want to disturb them and decided to hike the trail another time. When I headed back to the car, a few bison came out across the road, including this one who just stopped in the middle. With the head nicely angled to the sun and a nice backdrop of out-of-focus blue sky, green trees, and brown grasslands, I couldn’t resist taking a picture before it finally got moving again and finished crossing the road.

Frosted Buffalo As I drove into Yellowstone in the fall of 2007, I stopped to photograph an elk bull that was sleeping in a meadow. As I got back to the car, I noticed this bison bull had laid down across the Madison River, its back frosted white by the dirt it must have been wallowing in.

Three Browns I like the three shades of brown of the dry grasses, the dark fur of the bison’s head, and the lighter fur of the body.

Two Views These pictures were taken of a small group of bison not far from a pullout. They came in fairly close then walked the far side of the pond, letting me shoot both close-ups and full-body portraits with reflections. I love photographing bison faces and have toyed with the idea of spending one trip photographing nothing but bison. Not that I would, but it would be an interesting exercise.

The Road Ahead I had been photographing the bison above and started to pack up my cameras when a car that had just left came back. Inside were two young women I had just been chatting with, who had come back to tell me about this bison not far from the road. When I pulled up, it was vigorously scratching an itch by rubbing its side against a downed tree. Despite the heavy crowds at Yellowstone, you certainly do meet nice folks sometimes when you're in the quiet places.

Bison Calves

Time Stands Still For No Calf A bison calf suckles from its mother near Roosevelt. This calf was smaller and less developed than most of the others, it was fall and while snow and ice were elsewhere in the park, this area was still clear. Soon enough, the little one will get exposed to Yellowstone’s long winter.

There’s a cardinal rule to never get between a mother and her child, no matter the species, so when I came across these calves at the periphery of a large herd blocking a trail near Slough Creek, I gave them all a wide berth. The herd was spread out and given the late hour I abandoned any ideas about further hiking and instead set up the big lens for some pictures. I enjoyed watching the antics of the two calves until they started walking nonchalantly in my direction. Nothing aggressive mind you, but I kept one eye on them on one eye on their parents as I backed up with each advance. I kept my distance and the adults barely batted an eye, the calves eventually lost interest and went back to their play and I watched them until they got tired and went back to rest with the others.

Standing Proud A bison calf on a small ridge above the Yellowstone River in the Hayden Valley, with the evergreens and hills visible on the far side of the river.

	Two Young I don't know if the calf was hers, or even when bison reach sexual maturity, but she was barely larger than the calf that nuzzled up with her.
	Little Devil Horns I love the little devil horns of bison calves and would love to photograph them more. I usually visit Yellowstone in the fall and the calves are already larger than they were even a few months earlier, an important change given the brutal and long winter to come.