Coyotes At a Kill, And Not

Yellowstone in winter was gorgeous, and it was a nice trip. It was the first time in the U.S. that I've seen herds of animals, animal kills with scavengers, and wilderness with animals like I've seen in Africa. It's different here, of course - you don't get as close to the animals and there are not as many of them, and typically you see one species at a time instead of a dozen. But, it was still very cool and overall a great experience. At least we have some wild places left.

Our first day in the park we saw this coyote on the left trot over a ridge; he/she only turned to look at me for a minute before disappearing over the crest. Shortly after entering the park we saw an elk kill that was being scavenged by ravens and coyotes, pictured on the right. There was another elk not farther on that looked as though it may have been hit by a car and then wandered off to the side and died, as it didn't appear there was much blood. Coyotes, ravens and a golden eagle were taking care of it each time we drove by.