May 17, 2012
Cinnamon Black Bear in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yesterday was my seventh day in Yellowstone National Park and it was a great day for bear photography. I spent the morning with the Black Bear sow with two cubs-of-the-year. The photographic highlight of the afternoon was a cinnamon-colored Black Bear (above) that stayed out in an open meadow fairly close to the road for more than an hour. In the evening, I watched a Grizzly Bear with two cubs-of-the-year (new bears for me) and was in position to start photographing a group of Bison cows and calves cross the Lamar River, not once but twice! The river was running high from some recent rain at the headwaters, and even the cows had to swim to get across the river. Some of the calves got swept downstream quite far from their mothers, but eventually made it to shore and all got reunited with their mothers. Then about five minutes later, they decided that they should be back on the other side of the river with the rest of the herd, so they all recrossed the river — crazy! Maybe practice makes perfect because most of the calves were able to stay quite close to their mothers this time. At the end of the day, I photographed a Black Bear sow with two yearling cubs. They were also new bears for me on this trip, but I likely photographed them last spring.