Who goes to Yellowstone National Park and doesn't see at least a bear?

Who goes to Yellowstone National Park and doesn't see at least a bear?
We didn't! And we drove from one end of the park to the other side, an all day trip, and didn't see so much as a freeloading bear.

These three bears driving an old Jeep in West Yellowstone was the closest we came to an actual bruin.

When Megan was a child visiting Yellowstone, bears were everywhere - begging for food, terrorizing campers, climbing on cars ... you get the idea. During one of those visits, she bought this series of color postcards for 25 cents, with more pictures on the other side.  Back in the days of film that only took black & white pictures, color post cards were the best (and least expensive) souvenirs a kid could purchase.

We had hoped beyond all hope to see at least one moose on our 11 days out west. 
Nope! On that point, also.

Looks like those three bears were the only ones to see a moose, and they brought him into West Yellowstone on the hood of their old Jeep. At least we got a laugh. This was an often photographed Jeep. We had to stand in line.

So what kind of wildlife did we see, besides lots of antelopes?

Our plane was called Dale, and we had a Dall Sheep on the tips of its wings.

Are these birds lost? What are a flock of Pelicans doing on the shore of this little stream on the barren, high plains in Wyoming? Obviously, this is NOT the ocean.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ... Pelicans patiently circling, as they wait for us to drive away so they can land.

This Pelican circled over the Fishing Bridge on Lake Yellowstone looking for fish and and showing us its best side for pictures. If you're a Pelican in Yellowstone, you better put your best side forward. You're wildlife!

Whoa! What is this? We had to turn around and see what was perched on top of this tall pole.

According to our bird book, this is another fish eating bird - a pair of Osprey mates. What an enormous nest!

Uh, excuse us. Have you seen this guy's scissorhands? That look warns us to hit the road ... again.

We found this violent falls on a little, narrow, one-way road in Yellowstone. Where does it lead?

Look! Across the stream.
What did Megan see?
What's in her camera's viewfinder?
 

Shhhhh! Be very, very quiet. A mama elk stands in the stream and looks for intruders, as another mama elk on the far bank gently nudges her newborn calf. Like any mother: "I'm right here."

How old is this calf? Weeks? Days? Hours? Minutes? And where will the pair go from this point? At least they have plenty of grass to eat.

Here's our next problem.
Click on the link above to see a short video.

You wouldn't believe how big these mangy/majestic looking buffalo are in person. They know they rule Yellowstone. If they want to lie down or parade in the middle of the road, that's there prerogative. The only person who can make them move is a park ranger.

As the sun was slipping into the West, these buffalo had been persuaded by a park ranger to move off the highway and linger in this Western landscape.

Yep! That's a signature scene of Yellowstone National Park.

Talk about a pastoral scene? Buffalo aren't the only wild animals on islands in the stream.

These two young bull elk could be posing for postcards with their velvety antlers. They're apparently used to tourists and their stupid remarks and their cameras clicking.

Next was a surprise.
We saw a long-legged, brown smudge standing tall in a stream way off in a farmer's field past West Yellowstone.
Is that a moose?

These don't look like moose to us. Drat. Our bird book says we've found a pair of sandhill cranes. We can mark those on our life lists of bird watching.

Darn, these big-tailed birds are pretty in their black-and-white suits. They took us back to our childhood and watching Saturday morning cartoons -- Heckle and Jeckle, the mischievous magpies. They were always making trouble, much like today's strutting magpies.

Looks like we've got a Cheetah on this airplane, and a bird perched on one of the flexes on the movable ramp.

Hum, looks like a little Flycatcher has set up housekeeping. See the straw in her nest between the two pipes.

And we're flying home with ...

... A young bobcat looking into the cabin from its perch on the wing.

Dwain and Megan

Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day. 
Home on the Range - Dr. Brewster M. Higley (1823–1911)