Jackson Hole Wildlife Eco-Tour Adventures

The wildlife abounds here in Grand Teton National Park.  Let our experienced guides show you the wildlife hotspots and inform you about this amazing ecosystem.  

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The Mountain Goat, Oreamnos americanus, is non-native to the Jackson Hole area; it was introduced to the Snake River Range in the mid 1970’s.    They can be seen during the winter months along highway 89 just north of Alpine Wy. in the Snake River Canyon.  They occasionally range 30+ miles north into the Teton Mountain Range.   There is the possible threat that during the winter months they will compete for forage with the very sensitive and non-migratory native Teton Bighorn Sheep herd.    

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The Teton sheep heard is divided into two distinct segments (north and south), studies are in progress to determine whether any mixing might occur.  The north segment occurs on the high elevation summits and ridges of the northern range across from Jackson Lake.  The southern segment occurs on the high peaks in the southern range.  Winter and summer sightings have been made on Rendezvous peak, Mt. Hunt, and on Prospectors Mtn.  Remember that the summits of Mt. Hunt and Prospectors Mtn. are closed to human use during the winter months to give the sheep a location where they won’t be disturbed by backcountry skiers. ....... …

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     Each spring, Ravens are some of the first birds in this area to show courtship display.  The male at times will perform aerial displays of soaring, diving, and tumbling.   Often the male and female will lock talons and tumble down towards the ground.  On sunny and warm days ravens can be seen preening each other.    Ravens are monogamous and will typically use the same nest site year after year.    They usually have one clutch that consists of 4-6 eggs laid.  The female incubates for 20 or so days while she is fed by the male.   The young ravens will develop in the nest for 40 days or so before they fledge.   During this time both the male and female tend the young.      …

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 We are booking for our summer season.  Our guides will show you the best of the best when it comes to the wildlife hotspots and areas away from the crowds.   We are offering tours into Yellowstone National Park as well into Grand Teton National Park.   Tour with us for an experience you will not forget.    

Ehrlich,  P., Dobkin, D., and Wheye,  D. 1988 The Birders Handbook. Simon & Schuster Inc. New York

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Wolves are back on the National Elk Refuge, bison are seen in large herds in Grand Teton National Park,  bighorn sheep are being spotted on some of the craggy cliffs in the area, as elk are still migrating down to the valley.    Enjoy a wildlife tour with EcoTour Adventures to explore Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole.   We provide a fun and educational experience for the whole family or for that honeymooning couple.    

 

 Welcome to winter!   The snow has begun to fall here in the Tetons making the skiers quite happy.   Through December and the first weeks of January things were quite dry and cold.   We saw cold snaps, where temperatures were dropping in to the -20’ies.  The wildlife was responding accordingly.   There are incredible physical and behavioral adaptations that animals posses that help them through Wyoming’s intense winter.   Wyoming’s deep snows can hurt or actually benefit some wildlife.    

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During the past two week over 95 inches of snow has fallen on the Teton Mountain Range.    This has brought our snow totals for this winter to over 273 inches.   We currently have a base of 79 inches.   We skiers are quite happy for this recent snowfall.   This is a welcome change from the high pressure that was found over the region during December and the first weeks of January.   High pressure brings inversions to the area where temperatures in the Jackson Hole Valley were dipping into the -20ies and mountain temperatures were climbing into the 20ies and 30ies.

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 Super cold temperatures and heavy snows really affect the resident wildlife.   It’s common to see some of the larger mammals bedded down to reduce their exposure to the wind and at the same time laying on top of their legs as to reduce the amount of their body exposed to the outside environment.   This is a great example of a behavioral adaptation.  An example of a physical adaptation would be the hollow hairs found on the coats of different mammals.   This hollow hair traps air providing additional insulation for the animal.    Hollow hairs also benefit the animal by providing additional buoyancy.    Elk, moose, and deer are excellent swimmers.

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  Our deep snow in the valley can be a mixed blessing.   Snow is a great insulator where it helps protect small mammals and even some birds from the deep cold, they burrow into the snow to find the warmer temperatures closer to the ground.    On the flip side, snow can really hinder the movement and foraging abilities of some of the larger mammals.  Animals like pronghorn antelope are migratory in nature and are North America’s second longest distance migratory animal, second to the caribou.   The pronghorn migrate up to 200 miles from Grand Teton National Park down south into the Red Desert.   It seems that every year there is a small segment of the heard that chooses not to migrate.   As the pronghorn have short legs (about 24 inches long) and extremely small hoofs, they are really inefficient at traveling and foraging through deep snow.    If the snow continues to fall this winter, it’s unlikely that the stragglers will live to see the spring.   We hope the best for them..

 We hope you can join us to experience this amazing area.   We specialize in small group tours to connect you to this amazing ecosystem.

       The bighorn sheep are starting to move towards their winter range.   We have seen some of the ewes  or females within the Jackson Hole valley.  It’s typical for sheep to have multiple seasonal ranges within their home range.  Males may have up to six seasonal ranges while females have up to four ranges…  Male’s ranges include the rutting range, a pre-rut range, a spring range, a salt lick range, a summer range, and a winter range.  Female’s ranges may include the spring range, the lambing range, the summer range, and the winter range.   If I had to make an assumption, the rams or males are on their pre rut range.  This range is off of the high country where there is less snow, as there is up to two feet of snow in the high country at this point.   The females are moving towards their winter range, which brings them into view here in Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole.   The older individuals lead the migration to the different ranges.   These different migrations happen quickly over the course of a few days and have been happening on the same paths for centuries.            

          As we near the holidays, the rams will start fighting for ewes in estrus.  To find out who is the dominant ram, the two competing individuals will run at each other and clash heads in combat.   The collision may be heard from a mile away and sound as a gun has fired..          

      Bighorn sheep migrated to North America during the early Pleistocene era, about two million years ago.    Our ancestral sheep reached North America about 1 million years ago where they evolved into nine sill existing sub species.   Beringia was the location where these sheep crossed from Asia to North America.    

           As the rut comes closer we will be taking tours to find the combating sheep…    We will keep you posted on the happenings..   Call for a park wildlife tour to remember.  We are permitted in Grand Teton National park and offer wildlife tours in the Jackson Hole Valley.    We are also offering  winter wildlife snowshoeing tours this winter season as well.

  Gildart, Bert. 1999. Mountain Monarchs Bighorn Sheep. Northword Press, Minnetonka, Minnesota

           Red Fox    Vulpes vulpes

  What an amazing place Jackson Hole is.  It’s not everywhere that you can drive through town and see 50 or so people on a sidewalk with cameras photographing foxes.    Right in the town of Jackson, “Wildlife Happens” as my good friend Reed states.    Jackson being in the center of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is a mecca for wildlife and hiking enthusiasts.    Professional photographers and novices alike line the fence watching the kits or (baby foxes) play in the field.  Even though the den is 15 yards from the sidewalk the young aren’t phased.   Normally foxes are shy of people but this is not the case here.   We were speculating why the mother is raising her kits so close to civilization, when there is 18 million acres of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to live in.    One theory that we came up with is the absence of predators..  In such an urban setting animals like coyotes, eagles, and ravens would be less likely to prey on the kits.   The vixen or female mother isn’t phased at all with all the commotion on the road.  These are truly urban animals.     Typically the dad or also called the dog fox will stay with the litter and help the vixen feed the kits.   This is not the case here, the dog fox has not been seen around the den site.   Foxes have been known to be polygamous, polyandrous, or monogamous.    These kits are about one month and we speculate that they will be concentrated around the den site for another few weeks until they start venturing out on their own.   We are expecting that the vixen will start bringing around living prey to teach the kits how to kill and hunt.  At this point we have seen her bring back birds, ground squirrels, mice, and a snake.           Fox, D. 2007. “Vulpes vulpes” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed May 20, 2008 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Vulpes_vulpes.html.Join us in Jackson Hole, Grand Teton or Yellowstone National Park, for a wildlife park  guided tour to remember.

A park and hiking tour in Yellowstone.  When one thinks of Yellowstone, thoughts might wander to geysers like Old Faithful, hot springs, fumaroles, bubbling mud pots and wildlife.  For the past three days my time was devoted to viewing wildlife and hiking in Yellowstone National Park.   The south entrance just opened on the 10^th  of May, and I took the opportunity to go on a scouting mission for my wildlife eco tours.   I loaded up my binoculars and spotting scopes and north I went.  With one mission, spending time and touring through the Lamar Valley.  This in one place in the lower 48 where wolves and grizzly bears are quite visible and common,  if you know where to look that is. From years past I had a good idea, but knowledge in the field in priceless.   As I dried myself off from swimming in the Boiling River Hot Springs I wondered just what I would see and learn in the world’s first national park.         It was approaching sunset and I knew the time was right.   I headed straight for a wolf den site that I remembered from last year.    I got sidetracked by a huge grizzly grazing 200 yards off the road.    In this area the snow has just recently melted leaving patches of grass here and there.   Food is not all that abundant for the large bears this time of year.    When bears come out of hibernation they have burnt off their fat reserves and are hungry.    The problem is that sometimes food can be hard to come by..   There is a rough progression of food items that grizzlies consume through the year.     After waking, the available food happens to be winter killed ungulates ie. hoofed mammals.  The snow and winter temperatures preserves these carcasses, and the bears and other scavengers get a 5 star dinner as the carcasses thaw.   As spring and summer progresses, vegetation grows and bears turn to these grasses, wildflowers, and roots for food.  In some places a bears diet might consist of over 80% vegetation.   For the most part bears are opportunist feeders and will munch on what’s available.   Starting with the bison, as we are seeing now, the young of the season are being born and are a relativity easy meal for the large carnivores.    Elk and moose will give birth in the next few weeks.  In the Lamar Valley the grizzly bears take advantage of the wolves and will push the wolves off a kill they had made.             On a short hike I found a carcass which appeared to be an unlucky elk that didn’t make it through the winter.    Most of the large bones were broken in half.. A sure sign of wolves.. With a biting jaw that can exert up to 1500 pounds of pressure per square inch it takes no time to snap large bones to reach the rich protein and fatty marrow inside.        Summer for the grizzlies means eating small mammals that they can dig up,  tearing through rotten logs to find insects,  and feeding on any other food that might be available.    So this means as you go hiking through the park don’t leave any food unattended.               Something as small as a moth is also an important food source for the bears.   The army cutworm moth being up to two inches wide, migrates from the great plains in the summer to the   mountainous Rockies  in search of cooler temps and the nectar that is produce by our array of wildflowers.   They feed at night and then retire to the cool shade under the small rocks.  This is where the bears will uncover them and eat 10,000-40,000 in a day, all this happening at elevations greater than 10,000 feet.   WoW,  Who would of known.      

      

       The fall is the all important time for the grizzled beasts.    80% of all the calories that these bears burn through the year come from the whitebark pine tree, more specifically the nut that the tree produces.   What so scary here is that this tree is declining fast..   The whitebark pine blister rust, the pine beetle,  and the warming temperatures are all to blame.  With only 500-600 grizzly bears in the 18 million acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem we can’t spare to lose any.

Turner, Jack. Travels In The Greater Yellowstone. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008