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| Babies were our goal: SCORE! |
Caty and I saw 24 while in Yellowstone this time -- and four were this year's cubs! So, that was a success.
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| Black Bear cub in a tree |
Where you can theoretically see a Black Bear anywhere in the Park, they tend to stick to hilly, forested areas, whereas Grizzlies are often seen in Yellowstone's vast sage-filled valleys. The Tower area where the Grand Loop Road intersects with Tower Road is the most common area to see them.
Which is Which?
The names Brown (AKA Grizzly) and Black Bear are misnomers and cause extensive confusion among tourists, That's because Brown Bears have a variety of colors ranging from very blond to silvery gray (gray tips on fur is where the Grizzly name came from) ...
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| See the silvery sheen? Grizzlies also often have a lighter "saddle" on their backs |
... and Black Bears range from a light cinnamon to chocolate brown to black ...
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| Cinnamon and Black |
Black Bears sometimes also have light chest patches ...
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| A little bit of white |
Black-colored Black Bears often have tawny snouts, but can be full black. If the Bear is a full, deep black, it's probably not a Grizzly. While they go dark, they never go that dark.
In Black Bears, color variations often fall within the same litter.
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| Mixed colors |
Sometimes that's because the cubs have different fathers and sometimes it's just genetics. It is not unusual to see twins of different colors.
One family we saw on his trip had a black mother with just a hint of brown on her snout, a black cub with a tawny snout and a full chocolate brown cub.
So, if color is not a determinate, how do you tell Browns from Blacks? Lots of ways: Grizzlies have far more pronounced humps on their backs, although a big Black bear can have a hump ...
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| Black, left; Grizzly, right |
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| Grizzly, left; Black, right |
Grizzlies have longer claws ...
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| Black, left; Grizzly, right |
Their faces are shaped differently, with Black Bears having a down-sloped "roman" nose and Grizzlies having a more "dished up" nose ...
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| Black, left; Grizzly, right |
Plus, Brown Bears are bigger, reaching up to 800 lbs., while a huge Black Bear might reach 400 lbs.
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| But size can be tricky; these are both adult Grizzlies |
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| Black, top; Grizzly, bottom |
We spend a lot of time in Yellowstone explaining the differences to tourists.
Of course, I've had a lot of practice. I have been fortunate enough to see lots of both species.
So, what did we see this time?
Specific Sightings
Anyway, as I said, we saw lots of Black Bears, including Caty's and my first sighting: two black lumps far in the distant near Fishing Bridge, an area we seldom see any Bears.
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| Look like Bears to me |
We stopped because other people were looking with binoculars. But, they were watching a distant (very) Sandhill Crane and hadn't even noticed the fuzzy rocks to the left. The Bears were apparently napping, so we moved on feeling fairly sure they were, indeed, Bears.
In the Tower area, we encountered a cinnamon sow multiple times without ever seeing the two cubs that she had allegedly secreted in the trees ...
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| A good mom who kept her children hidden |
We saw a few different black ones, including one with an obvious itch ...
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| Such fun to watch them scratch |
... some mothers with yearlings ...
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| Grazing together |
... and a number of cinnamon-colored ones ...
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| Coming up the hill |
Generally we could tell when we were seeing the same bear over again, but it wasn't always clear.
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| A classic Black Bear, with a black coat and brown nose |
Up in the Trees
By far, however, the best were two family groups fairly close together on the 2.5 miles of Tower Road that was not closed. We moved between the two groups several times, so I will just address them separately without chronically the back-and-forth.
The first was a mom and two black cubs right by the Calcite Springs parking area. They had apparently been in the same area for several days, so there was usually a group with scopes watching them.
Every time we stopped, mom was either grazing in the field or guarding the base of a tree.
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| Standing (and sitting) guard |
The youngsters were in the trees, usually very, very high up. They were pretty far away, but still fun to see.
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| Cub in a tree |
Once when we stopped, there was a male Black Bear lurking in the area. After what we had seen with the Grizzlies, this was alarming. And, the mom was definitely leery. The male was wandering close to the road, where Park Rangers had set up shop to keep traffic moving and keep idiots a safe distance from the Bears.
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| Black Bear boar |
At one point, the Bear approached the road and the rangers hazed it with a paint- or flare-gun (it exploded on the pavement with a big pop and a cloud of blue dust). The Bear ran across the street and into the woods. The Mom under the tree relaxed a bit.
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| Perhaps a nap |
The last time we went by, the parking area was closed (I guess there had been human/Bear issues) and the Bears were nowhere to be seen (I was going to say "gone," but they could have been right in front of us; Bear camouflage can be good).
Black Bear mothers teach their cubs to climb and remain in trees to keep them safe from predators. Grizzlies do not climb trees.
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| Far from danger |
Closer Trees
The more exciting group was in and by a tree at the far end of the Tower Falls parking lot. On our first visit, the end of the parking lot was closed off with cones, but no signage indicated that it was restricted. Later, the cones were gone.
We heard that there was a mom and two COYs, black and brown, that had been playing and putting on quite a show. When we arrived, they were sleeping -- soundly -- in a tree between the parking lot and a closed portion of Tower Road.
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| Napping in a safe spot |
They were there a long time without moving ...
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Not going anywhere |
However, at one point, when Caty and I were at Calcite Springs, Scott decided the go back to check on the Tower Bears. When we suddenly realized he had been gone a long time, we rushed to the car, just in time to get a walkie-talkie message from him to hurry because they were down. I drove the curvy two miles between the two locations as fast as I could. By the time we arrived, mom and the cubs had settled behind a rock so that she could nurse them.
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| Why behind a rock? |
We missed them coming down the tree, but Scott got it.
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| Money shot! Photo: Scott Stevens |
And, we were rewarded with some nice glimpses of them as they peered over the top of the rock.
The little black cub seemed more curious ...
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| He was all over the place |
... the brown one more shy ...
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| A little less active |
... but they were so, so cute ...
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| Such a treat to see these beautiful creatures |
Mom, seemed a bit worn out ...
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| Ay yi yi |
... but, it's probably tough trying to corral two little ones in an area full of cars and photographers ...
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| What Moms have to put up with! |
At one point, while we were watching, some one remarked that we should turn around. There, in a ravine below the parking lot was another Black Bear, just walking along ...
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| Where did he come from? |
It never came up into the parking lot. But, it did remind us to keep an eye on our surroundings. You never know when another Bear might approach from behind. And, you should always have a plan in case one does.
It was the mom and COYs that Caty and I were watching when Scott left to go back to Silver Gate for trout. We can probably thank them for the Wolves we saw on our way back.
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| Covered in a previous post |
Heading Out
After out fun couple of days (and incredible Bear and Wolf adventures), we had to head out.
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| It was wild! |
Caty was driving home (about 13 hours from Silver Gate) and we were heading to Kalispell for the night before driving into Canada to visit the Canadian National Parks along the Icefields Parkway.
What a great visit -- and still more to come.
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| Next stop: Canada! |
Trip date: May 19-June 2, 2022
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