I recently took the road over Dunraven Pass looking for wildflowers but the cold low temperatures the previous few mornings had taken their toll. While the flowers didn’t impress, the clouds above Mount Washburn were pretty cool and made the scene worthy of trying to photograph it. On a side note, I’ve been meaning to mention for a while now about the road construction in Yellowstone this summer. There is a lot of it going on, some long-term projects that will last all summer and others are minor projects that last a few days or weeks. Either way there is a lot of road work happening and plan accordingly, meaning bring plenty of patience.

Yellowstone National Park released that it hosted 454,929 visits in May 2023. While down from 2022 that’s still a lot of people coming into Yellowstone. At the same time Yellowstone visitors have received a lot of negative attention for various reasons but largely for harassing wildlife. And while these incidents are disturbing they are not the norm but rather isolated actions of a very small minority of park visitors. Over the years I’ve certainly seen people doing things they shouldn’t and those things tend to stand out. But I’ve also seen the significant majority of people behaving perfectly fine. I’ve had several book signings in Yellowstone already this summer and have had a chance to meet hundreds of people from all over the world and they all have something in common. They want to come to the most spectacular place in the world and are excited to see geysers, mountains, and wildlife. Even those of us who live here now, in some cases for many years, were once tourists with little information about Yellowstone. Yellowstone is one of the most incredible places on earth and it draws people from all walks of life from all over. While a few bad apples get the attention, the vast majority of visitors appreciate where they are and what they’re seeing.

Is this not the cutest bird face ever? It’s pretty fun when the swallows migrate back for the summer as they often flock in large numbers and with several species present. I counted five different species as I watched and photographed the flock catching insects along the shore of a nearby lake. They would often perch on whatever they could find before flying out to hunt again. This is a Violet-Green Swallow and, at a distance, can be confused with a Tree Swallow as they both appear to be greenish and white. But the Violet-Green Swallow has some very distinctive coloration as it’s name implies and I’ll post another photo later showing the beautiful colors of this species. But for now, this face was just too cute not to share.

A different morning and different mountain goats from my post on Sunday. The photo I shared then was from a morning when I found four billies together. On the morning I found these three, they were a part of a small group consisting of three nannies, a kid born last year, and a couple of subadult goats. I think one of the fun things about nature photography is that you never know what you’re going to find. Every day is special and new and every encounter is unique. The two youngsters in this photo were jostling about while poor mom was just trying to sit and relax. Does that sound familiar to any moms out there?

When I first became interested in photography back in the 90’s, waterfalls were often my subject of choice. It was a good subject matter to learn photography because the slow shutter speeds necessary to get the water to look like this required a tripod. That meant I slowed down and studied my subject and paid attention to what I was doing. I don’t photograph waterfalls as often as I used to but they’re still one of my favorite subjects, especially when the sky adds a beautiful element to the image.

Mountain goats tend to live in the most beautiful places. They call the highest peaks their home and rely on steep cliffs, which they traverse with ease, for safety and protection from predators. While I didn’t find any baby goats on my recent travels into the high country, I did find this cooperative youngster who provided me some poses with some nice light and breathtaking backdrops. It’s hard to really ask for anything more.

This week it was the elk that provided a nice scenic photo opportunity for me. This cow elk was grazing near the road in Yellowstone and a pullout provided me a direct view of Electric Peak for a background. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have an elk calf with mom but that just leaves something to try for next time. I stayed in my car so as to not spook the elk, though the speeding traffic certainly kept getting her attention. She eventually crossed the road and headed towards the trees but not before I was able to photograph her in the gorgeous morning light. Please remember, these images are my livelihood and may not be used under any circumstances without my permission.