Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14e II, ISO 500, f6.3, 1/400
Last fall in Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park we watched coyotes feeding on a elk carcass near the road. There were two wolves keeping a close eye on the coyotes for nearly two hours before making their move to the elk.
Awhile back Chad wrote a blog post called Spotlight: "American Eagle" and Inspiration. Watching that particular PBS Nature documentary as Chad said really got our blood flowing. Last weekend, I was watch a PBS Nature documentary called "Clash: Encounters of Bears and Wolves." Let me tell you that after watching this it got my blood flowing to head back out to Yellowstone National Park!
If you haven't watched an episode before of Nature I encourage you to watch a couple when you have time. In "Clash: Encounters of Bears and Wolves" you will see grizzly's chase down elk and wolves fighting to keep a fresh kill from the bears. I will say that it is an epic battle between the two top predators in the park.
Nikon D50, Nikkor 70-300VR @ 250mm, f/5.6, ISO 800, 1/50
Wolves have always fascinated me. Maybe because I grew up with dogs, the similarities along with their wild nature drew me in. At any rate wolves have always been a favorite of mine and perhaps the main reason I got into wildlife photography. This was taken at a science center early on in my wildlife photography obsession in 2007. It wouldn't be until 2010 until I photographed a wolf in the wild.
Nikon D90, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS + TC-14E II @ 700mm, ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/800
Derek challenged me to pick a single favorite image from 2010. I knew choosing just a single image would difficult, but I was surprised just how difficult it was. This a wild wolf in Yellowstone, taken in September 2010.
This photograph isn't nearly my best photograph technically speaking. I had to run my ISO all the way up to 1600. It was one of the first times I used the TC-14 and I now know that stopping down to f/8 would have made for a significant improvement. Despite all of this, I still choose it, why?
Wolves have been a fascination of mine since I was a young kid. In fact, wolves are the primary reason I got into wildlife photography. Even though Minnesota has one of the largest populations of wolves in the continental US, I've never photographed them in the wild. Wild wolves are very shy and generally keep a healthy distance from people. So being able to photograph a wild wolf was an amazing opportunity for me.
The other part of this was the amazing experience. We spent many hours sitting on the side of the road near an elk kill from the previous night. Coyotes, eagles, ravens and other birds came and left over that period of time. In the distance we could see a pair of wolves who already had their fill for the day. We could only hope they would come back for a second helping. As the light began to run out, a single black wolf approached! It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.
For more information about our wolf encounter, see and earlier post titles, "Wolves in Lamar Valley."
When preparing for our Grand Teton / Yellowstone National Park trip Derek and I had some preconceived ideas about the wildlife we would be able to photograph. The only time the word wolf was mentioned was, That would be awesome to just see one, but at no point did we actually think we would be able to photograph them.
To our surprise we actually saw a wolf in Grand Tetons near the Antelope Flats area. We made a quick u-turn and tried to photograph it, but by the time we pulled over, it was gone. I think we both believed we were lucky to have the sighting, but thought it would probably be our last. Then Yellowstone happened.
We spent three nights in Yellowstone and saw unbelievable landscape and wildlife. We spent the last day in Lamar Valley. Since we started south in Grand Teton National Park and worked our way north, Lamar Valley was saved for last.
Nikon D90, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS + TC 14E II @ 700mm ISO 800 f/5.6 1/1000
We found an elk kill in the morning that was being picked over by coyotes. It was a really cool experience seeing the coyote, but it was nothing compared to what we saw that evening. We spent the day driving the valley. We made our way back to the elk kill for the evening when the light would be better. When we arrived at the kill there were three times as many cars parked in the area. Derek asked someone if it was coyotes they were watching and we couldn't believe their response, WOLVES!
This quickly became our best wildlife encounter ever. First, we got to share the experience with our wives who were with us. Second, wolves have long been one our favorite animals. For several hours we watched a fascinating interaction between a group of four coyotes and two wolves. The wolves spent most of the time lying in the distance napping. The coyotes kept a close eye on the wolves and approached slowly. The coyotes would howl and bark seemly to ask for permission to fed from the carcass. As an added bonus we got to watch a bald eagle circle the area and assess the situation. The habitat was perfect, an open area with a rock creek bed and small creek running through. There were grasslands, sparse trees and mountains in the background. The scene was so surreal I even mentioned to Derek that it seemed like a episode of PBS Nature was happening before our eyes. As the sun got low we got what we waiting for. The black wolf cautiously approached the elk (and the on lookers) and fed!
As I said, this was the most exciting wildlife experience ever and once it was over, it really sank in. I made a quick photograph of the area where this all took place. As we were packing up the bald eagle land on the top of a pine tree right in front of us. We quickly unpacked and were able to get some more amazing photos of this amazing place. Now we can't wait to go back to Lamar Valley!
