At 6 am this morning we rendezvous'd with the Teton Science Ctr. Wildlike Expeditions van in Elk Park, Jackson for a four hour tour of wildlife in the Grand Teton national Park. Paul, our guide, was extremely knowledgeable, friendly and accomodating - usually the tour costs $125 pp but because Erin is on staff at the Teton Science School we got to go for free! Loaded up with coffee, sweatshirt (burr - 40 degrees)and camera we went in search of the area's earliest morning risers - especially in the summer when it gets hot during the day. Our first stop was a cow moose right alonside of the road - a woman in the car in front of us was crazy enough to walk right up to the fence of the elk refuge as if to pet the moose! Our guide was shocked and appalled - he had never seen anyone do something so stupid... Altho there was a fence the moose could have easily plowed thru it and her - if she had been so inclined. Luckily didn't see any blood and gore - much too early in the day for that (or ever!). About two miles later we saw a bull moose with a huge rack of antlers munching on sage brush near the Snake River. Paul set up fancy telephoto lens and even took a few pictures of the moose with my camera. I'll have to learn how to upload them on my computer.
We then took a dirt back country road thru the National Park to the river bed and this is when we really hit "pay dirt" and saw a bald eagle nesting,many elk, pronghorn antelope, sage grouse and more birds I can't remember the name of.... Our guide expertly shared their mating rituals, daily habits and gender differences. Did you know that antelope are the 2nd fastest runners in the mammal species (1st place are cheetahs) - and actually for long distances they are #1 - cheetahs are only really quick for sprint distances.
Later in the morning we spent time with a herd of bison (think buffalo), saw many calves nursing, mating pairs and heard the aggressive noises of the males chasing off other competitors to their chosen breeding mate. Also saw the infamous cloud of dust rising before we got to the herd and found out this was the result of these huge beasts rubbing themselves in the dusty dirt to keep insects away.
The trip was delightful; it felt as though I was on a Wyoming safari - complete with ceiling roofs that popped up in the van to accomdoate better oogling with binoculars and picture taking....
Finished the morning off with a delightful breakfast at the Bunnery restaurant and bakery in downtown Jackson - I didn't feel the least bit guilty for that warm homemade pumpkin apple muffin and southwestern scrambled eggs after watching the game animals chomp on dry sage brush and grasses. In fact the whole adventure made us both starving!
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