<head><style>body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px;}</style></head><body> <style>body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px;}</style>Hello All!     My husband, George and I came up early and spent the day before opening driving out to Lamar Valley.  We saw one wolf, a couple of coyotes, and a fox that posed nicely for me.  Bison and elk were plentiful.  We also saw pronghorn, deer and bighorn sheep outside the park.  (But no bears that day.)     On opening day, there was a brisk and sometimes strong wind blowing.  The mountain bluebirds were having a hard time flying!  On our drives in and out of the park Friday-Sunday there was nobody home at the eagle's nest near Riverside Drive.  On one of the drives by it, I saw a couple of birds in trees across the river, but I couldn't ID them in the lighting and I don't think that they were both the same type.  The lone trumpeter was still in the Madison River.  2 bald eagles flew beautifully around the basin off and on during my visit.  We also saw an osprey near Fan & Mortar on Sunday.  On Saturday, 2 sandhill cranes loudly announced their arrival as they flew across the basin. They seemed to continue on out of the area, though.     At the Visitor's Center, the rangers told me that 2 grizzlies had been frequenting the Old Faithful area for the past few days. There was one large bear and a smaller bear (a 2 year old?) who were not together.  On Friday, I neither saw nor heard of any signs of the bears.     It was my impression that there were 2 groups of bison.  One group seemed to frequent the Hill and I think that they retreated to the cabin area in the evening.  The other larger group liked the meadow from in front of the Inn and towards Sawmill.  They looked like they were spending nights behind the Inn.     On Saturday morning as we drove in, I saw 2 bald eagles and another bird in a tree at the edge of the meadow by the overpass.  I wondered if there was a carcass there, but we didn't stop to investigate.  (It's a hard place to stop!)  I went out to the Castle overlook to watch for geysers.  We had seen the bison herd come out from their spot near the Inn and settle into grazing near Lion.  The morning was very quiet except for the geyser sounds and, after a while, a raven squawking loudly from the trees behind Castle.   After being out there for an hour or so, I went in for just a few minutes.  When I returned, the bison herd had disappeared!  I was surprised, because they had looked so comfortable where they were.  About that time there was a radio report from the ranger that was doing downloads that she had found fresh large grizzly tracks by Grotto.   (Later George measured one and said it was about 10 inches plus claws which made it about 11 inches long.)  I could see a few bison in the trees behind Giantess, and the others had retreated back to the Inn.   (Whenever I am out this time of year, I talk, sing, & move around, try to stay around other people, and carry bear spray!)  I heard a report that later Saturday evening there was a bear near the interchange/overpass area.     Sunday morning, as we approached the basin close to 8:00, a few bison were leaving and crossing the road just up from the Daisy trailhead.  I wondered why they were leaving.  Then we received a radio report that the large grizzly had been seen on Geyser Hill.  (Thank you to the webcam/chat page gazers who passed the word along!)  A half an hour or so later, George saw the small grizzly near the stop sign where you leave the lower Hams to return to the Visitor's Center. They eventually closed Geyser Hill for several hours, but no bear was seen again there.  (I know that there was talk that the old carcass on Geyser Hill might still be there.  When I was up there, though, on Friday and Saturday, I didn't see or smell anything.  Even the ravens weren't hanging around there - including on Sunday.  Maybe there were a few morsels left, though!)  I saw no other signs of the bears that day, except for some tracks perhaps across from Oblong coming from the highway in towards the bike path.  (Very large!)  We weren't sure how old they were.  The bison were scattered, and we saw one group on the move near Fan & Mortar.    I'll send the geyser info in a separate email.    Polly Panos </body>