Grand Teton Moose

Continuing the Moose. There is a back road through Grand Teton National Park that I always take as I head up to Yellowstone. It's a low area at the foot of the Grand Tetons that follows Cottonwood Creek up to Jenny and Jackson Lakes. But it is the area along the creek that you can often find Moose. It's always fascinating to watch Moose eat submerged vegetation. Here's a female who has just lifting her head up to check on me. In this case I like the green background of the plants and how the water is dripping from her mouth.

Moose

Grizzly Bear among the Wildflowers

Continuing with my series of "5" Star Photos: Grizzly Bears. This particular bear I found between Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. He was searching for bugs around fallen trees. With the wildflowers in front of him, it made for a nice photo:

Grizzly Bear

Grizzy & Moose in Wildflowers

Lighting is always tricky for the wildlife photographer. The Grizzly Bear in wildflowers (top photo) ended up a bit overexposed. He was in direct sunlight. I didn't have time to get into a better position. I don't like running to get to a better angle -- especially, when I am photographing bears. Fast movements tend to cause bears to change what they are doing -- i.e. fight or flight. Anyway, so the wildflowers aren't really showing their colors in that photo. In the case of the Moose (in the bottom photo) the wildflowers are in the background and so don't stand out quite as well because their colors are more muted. I like both photos because both the grizzly and the moose have turned their heads to look at me. Just wish the colors came out better.

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park is in a word: "spectacular." Snow covered mountains rising several thousand feet above the landscape. But, Grand Teton National park has been one of America's most controversial. The Teton Mountain Range and six glacier lakes were made into a National Park by Congress in 1929, but not without much anti-park sentiments from landowners in the area. John D. Rockefeller Jr. had bought 35,000 acres and tried for 15 years to give it to the Department of Interior to be part of the National Park. Congress would not approve because of local pressure. So, Rockefeller gave President FD Roosevelt an ultimatum.  It worked, FDR made it a National Monument along with another 150,000 acres in 1943. Finally, in 1950 all were combined by Congress to its current configuration as The Grand Teton National Park. Again, there had to be a compromise. The biggest of which was an agreement that in the future, presidential proclamation could never again be used to create a National Monument in Wyoming. So, Wyoming has the distinction of having the first National Park (Yellowstone) , but also the distinction of being the only state out of the 50 states in which a new National Monument cannot be created.  It is home to the Trumpeter Swan which is the largest bird in North America. It is also home to Bison, Pronghorn, Elk, and Moose. In fact, estimates are that more moose live in Grand Teton than in Yellowstone. In one of the very few "back roads" (Moose-Wilson Road) are a series of marshes. Rarely have I gone through this area without finding a moose such as the female above. Moose love to forage in ponds and shallow lakes. They dip their head into the water pull up as much vegetation as they can, raise their head and all the water comes out as if going through a sieve. Then they start chewing. This female was having a "Grand" time and seemed completely unconcerned about the controversy. To her it was home no matter what you called it.