June 12, 2011
Badger in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yesterday was our last day in Yellowstone National Park, and we left on a high note. After photographing some bison and calves in wonderful, warm, early-morning light, I found a lone wolf just within shooting distance. By that time, there was solid overcast which provided some nice diffuse light, and the wolf stood on a nice rock outcropping and howled for about 25 minutes before it went behind the rock. Later, I came upon a badger with a Uinta ground squirrel in its mouth very close to the road. I quickly pulled off the road, set up to shoot, and the badger took off the other way. I slowly headed off after the badger, and I think he ditched the ground squirrel in a den. Then it paused briefly at another den where I was able to get some shots before he headed up the hill and disappeared among the sagebrush. Unfortunately, I hadn't reset my camera after photographing the wolf in the low light, so I ended up photographing the badger at an unnecessary ISO 800 instead of my preferred ISO 400.