Yellowstone National Park

I'm going to begin this blog by saying that Yellowstone National Park is one of the most amazing places I've ever been and if you ever get a chance to go, please do.

Now I guess I should explain the circumstances that lead me to Yellowstone...

On January 24th, I got a call from my Grandpa. My father had passed away. I flew back home to Windsor, Ontario on monday the 25th and began planning the funeral and all that other stuff associated with a death...not fun. Being that I'm the executor of my fathers estate, I've had a lot of responsibilities thrown my way. In order to deal with all this stuff properly, I have to be in Windsor.

I now had to figure out a way to move home, and already being home made that kind of tricky. Flying back to Vancouver would be expensive and I would have to either rent a U-Haul truck or ship my stuff home, which is also very expensive. It turned out the cheapest way for me to get back to Vancouver and get my stuff home was to drive. My stepdad was generous enough to let me use his truck and that was it...now time to plan my route.

It would have been nice to check out all the provinces since I have never made that drive before but I decided to drive through the U.S.A. instead. It's a more direct route and the gas is cheaper. As I was mapping out my journey, I noticed my route would take me fairly close to Yellowstone National Park. If the Discovery Channel has taught me anything, it's that Yellowstone is a place you just can't pass up.

So that's how I ended up in Yellowstone. Ready to hear what it was like???

Ready or not, here it goes...

If the Discovery Channel has taught me anything about Yellowstone, I was in for a day of watching Bison grazing in roadside meadows, Bighorn Sheep head-butting on rocky slopes, and packs of wolves hunting down weak Elk. Now I may not have seen the above mentioned animals doing what the DC depicts them doing, but I did see all of those species, and then some. In the winter there's only one road open to wheeled vehicles. It's the road at the north end of the park that goes from Mammoth to Cooke City. There's no loop so you basically drive to Cooke City and back. That drive took about 6hrs in total including stopping to take photos...in that 6 hrs, I saw the following animals:

Elk

American Bison

Pronghorn Antelope

River Otters

Bald Eagles

Wolves(2)

Coyotes(3)

Bighorn Sheep(1)

I guess it's time for the photos.....so here ya go

Coyote with a mouse

1/3000 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm, -0.5ev

American Bison

1/2000 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm, -0.5ev

1/1500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm

1/4000 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 100mm, -0.5ev

Elk

1/350 @ f/8, ISO 400, 350mm, +0.5ev

Bald Eagle

1/1000 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm, -0.5ev

Bighorn Sheep

1/3000 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

1/1500 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

River Otters

1/1500 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

1/1500 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

Wolf....from really far away. Not a great photo by any means but it was the first one I've ever seen so I had to capture it.

1/8000 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm

Thanks for reading!

www.brandonbroderick.com

Coyotes 1, Brandon 0

Like I mentioned in the previous blog, I was going to attempt to get some shots of coyotes today. And attempt I did, however results were sub-par. I was given access to some property in Langley from a buddy of mine and had a lot of confidence about the area. As soon as I arrived I did a quick walk around the property to see what I was dealing with. A creek ran through the right side of the property and through the back as well so that was a good sign. The creek area was also pretty thick with trees so this spot had some real potential.

I brought my camouflage, blind, predator call, and long distance lure just to maximize my chances of seeing one of these animals. The long distance lure was placed, my blind was set up, I was fully camouflaged and just as I was about to sit down, I saw it. An animal coming from the left side of the property. I believe it was a Bichon Frise and it belonged to the neighbour. That pretty well ended my attempt at coyote photography for the day.

I couldn't just give up like that though. I had driven all the way to Langley from North Vancouver so I decided to make the most of it. I've heard coyotes had been spotted at a park close to where I already was so I decided to head there. Once again I put on my camouflage, grabbed all my gear and headed down a trail. The trail went through a forest and opened up into this field that looked really good. Just as I started to set up, 3 people walked by. Another place that wouldn't work.

If you're wondering why I gave up so quickly at these spots, it's because I need to call in the coyotes. This involves using a predator call which is made to sound like a rabbit in distress. This call is very loud and it needs to be if it's going to attract coyotes, however with it's high volume, it also attracts overly curious people and pets. Once people and dogs start showing up to my location, my location is blown.

The more I take photos, the more I realize that things don't always go as planned and you just have to move on and try to make the most of the day. I could look at this whole coyote thing as a negative, but I'm turning it into a positive because now I know where NOT to go to look for coyotes in the future. Speaking of which, if any of you reading this know somebody who has some land in the lower mainland of BC that has coyotes on it, please email me at brandon@brandonbroderick.com and there may be a print or 2 in it for you.

Now to talk about how I made the most of the day. Since I was already in the Langley area, Ladner wasn't too far and it's always a great place to at least get a few shots of some waterfowl. Even there I didn't have much luck with photos, but I still managed a few. Here they are...

This photo isn't anything special, I just thought it illustrated the struggle between webbed feet and ice.

1/1500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm

A Mallard making an icy landing.

1/1500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm

Since I mainly try for flight shots, this is my favorite photo of the day. Enjoy.

1/1500 @ f/5.6, ISO 500, 400mm

www.brandonbroderick.com