February 1, 2009

Wolves in Yosemite and a Yellowstone Photography Contest

Do you like the snow? Are you a photographer like me? I'm not one to enjoy the cold very much, but I love exploring new places and I love photography - and nice hotels on occasion. I am game to grab my camera and bundle up on the sweaters for the sake of capturing the world around me...

Yosemite in winter
On a road trip I recently had an encounter during an excursion to Yosemite National Park - with a wolf or coyote (anyone reading this post, if you can tell from my shaky photo, please tell me).




If you enjoy this type of excitement and want to learn Aperture while in Yellowstone National Park (another place I adore!), check out this contest:

The Third Aperture Nature Photography Workshops Contest....

Win one of four seats to Yellowstone workshop in April, 2009! They’ll be escorting four lucky winners to the Yellowstone area April 29 - May 2.

The submission site for this contest is on Flickr, use this address. http://www.flickr.com/groups/anpw/

Each winner will win a cash travel allowance, hotel, food, ground transfers, as well as prizes from our sponsors. It’s free to enter. You get to keep all Copyrights to your images. There’s no catch. Please read the complete contest rules for more information.

10 comments:

  1. I'm pretty sure that's a wolf. Was he along the road to Glacier Point by chance?! Every time we drove that a few years ago, the same wolf was hanging out by the side of the road begging food!

    ReplyDelete
  2. To be honest I can't recall where we were exactly...I was nervous and grateful that due to the cold our window was already closed.

    The animals at Yellowstone seemed more wary than this guy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi
    Thats "Ole George" the most famous coyote in Yosemite. He loves big macs, fries and almost anything fastfood you throw at him. There are no wolf in Yosemite.
    Ted

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ted I am so relieved to know I ran into a rockstar.

    Owning a dog, I don't believe in feeding "people" food to any animal - all George got was a small wave.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a coyote. I get to Yellowstone at least 4 to 5 times a year. My last trip a captured a series of pictures of a coyote pair, as you may know, they mate for life.

    ReplyDelete
  6. contrary to ted mac's assertion, there are wolves in yosemite, in recent years in increasing numbers. unlike the coyotes and black bears common to the Tuolumne backcountry, these far-ranging large predators are a serious danger to the enormous number of tourists that throng the park each year. no serious incidents have yet been reported, but park rangers frequently trap and kill wolves that show any sign of becoming acclimatized to the park or including it in their range. unlike solitary coyotes or bears, these pack animals would pose a great danger to park visitors, particularly in winter, when prey is scarce. as hunting restrictions have started repopulating larger game animals in the lower 48, larger predators are also expanding their range. until 100 years ago the grey wolf had a range that extended as far south as Georgia in the east, and to the mexican border in the west

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is a coyote. Absolutely NO doubt about it. Not to say that there are no wolves in Yosemite, I do not spend enough time up there to know the wildlife status. I grew up in the dust bowl of California, and we saw coyotes day in and day out. This is the classic example of the animal that scurries across the road and preys on rabbits and small animals in the area. Seeing coyotes every day of my life, I am 100% sure this is a coyote.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I meet grey wolf near half dome last week.
    this thing was huge and not afraid of me I did use whistle and after it give up chicken squeak this thing get even interested only my strange moves and noises and size made him move away.
    And he was walking with dignity and slow before he disappear I have photo if you like. Whatever it was it was HUGE and not skinny as coyotte I see at death valley you can clap your hands and coyote will disappear with panic I did see it many times running with panic away frm people

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wolves are MUCH larger than coyotes. A coyote weighs about 40 lbs,whereas a gray wolf can be between 80 to 120 lbs. The picture above is a coyote. It would be awesome to have been that close to a coyote. I see them all the time down here in Arizona and encountering them never gets old for me. Any chance to interact with a wild creature (respectively of course)always amazes me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. There are no recorded wolves in Yosemite. There is one wild wolf in the entire state (OR7), and he was last sighted up near the Oregon border. There are three variations of coyotes in the park, and the largest (mountain coyote) is commonly mistaken by the misinformed for a gray wolf. This picture is without a doubt a coyote.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails