Meet Bonita!

We had the very good fortune of running into Blondie's 6 year old daughter, Bonita, in the Park recently. But, before I can introduce you to her, we have to get through the beginning of the week before we saw her.

I ran into another moose while walking on Wednesday . . . while trying to cross yet another bridge. What is it with these moose and bridges? Anyway, I sat down on the bridge and starting taking photos . . .

The "TRAIL" sign is clearly displayed right next to this guy. He was on the trail!

You might think . . . he's so far away from the bridge that he wouldn't be a problem. Believe me. These guys are fast and very unpredictable. And, we've had more than one run-in with a moody moose. I'm definitely not interested in going through THAT again!

Even these two mergansers were keeping a close eye on the moose!

Then, he made his move. With just a couple of steps, this guy was at the end of the bridge. The same bridge that I was sitting ON. Fortunately, his ears were forward and the hackles weren't standing. I didn't feel as though he considered me a threat. And, he walked by the bridge and not onto it.

If he had, he could have been on me before I could even have gotten up and moved off of the bridge.

He continued past the bridge and along the river, by the trees.

I didn't understand this reaction. Ears back, he is clearly disturbed with something. Me? I'm even farther way than I was before. I kept watching and his demeanor did improve with distance.

After a quick look back at me, he made his way into the river.

Once I left the moose, I noticed a couple of goldeneyes further down the river (in the opposite direction the moose was headed!).

Beautiful ducks!

Further along my walk . . .

The rest of the walk was very uneventful, until I cleared the bridge below our house and came around the corner. I ran into this guy, again. He's the brute that kept me waiting for 30 minutes the day before, when I needed to cross the bridge to get home. Fortunately, he was grazing and only glanced up at me.

I was free to continue up the road, toward home, without his interference!

That night, we had a coyote in the backyard . . .

He's way too close to my trail camera, but I can't move it back and still have a view of the wall. The bushes are in the way! Anyway, if you look closely, you will notice a second coyote walk behind this one when he was on the wall.

One of them then appeared on the trail camera by the hot tub.

A couple of days later, on a walk, I captured this bald eagle flying in the distance.

And later in the day, a hummingbird moth was feasting on some of our daffodils.

May 20th, we were on our way to GTNP to see if we could find 399 and her cub. (Actually, we'd take ANY bear at this point!) We saw our mule deer friends again, along Spring Gulch Road.

And, elk in the distance.

When we got into the Park, we toured around a little (looking for bears) and . . .

BINGO!!!! THERE WAS BONITA!!!!!

Most of you have actually already met Bonita. Remember? We first met her in April 2021 when we videoed her. Remember this?

Let's take another look at that priceless moment when she stood up!

She was one big, bad bear back then!

And now she looks even bigger and badder!

We were the first ones on the scene and when we got out of the car, we immediately began videoing and taking photographs.

It was at about this point when we realized we were probably too close AND she was heading in our direction. We backed away from her, up the road, as more and more people pulled over to see her. About the same time, the Rangers showed up. They pushed us way, way back. (The rule is you need to view wolves and grizzly bears from a distance of 100 yards. That's 300 feet. I'm not going to speculate how close we were, but we weren't 300 feet away.)

She looks so cuddly, doesn't she? Like a real live teddy bear.

Check out those claws. Not so cuddly, after all. Huh?

We watched her as she approached a snow-melt pond and had a nice long drink.

Don got this great shot with my cell phone!

And this video . . .

After satiating her thirst, she crossed the road.

We were pushed back even farther, but we continued to take photos, when we could get a clear view corridor.

Soon, it was clear that she wanted to go back across the road.

And what she wants, SHE GETS!

Not long after she crossed back over, she meandered into the tree-line and she was gone. We had just spent over an hour with Bonita. What an incredible experience!

As we drove away, we could not believe how lucky we had been. I was checking out all of our photos on my camera's small screen, and wishing I had brought my computer to download them onto, so we could see them bigger!

We made the loop heading South and stopped at Jackson Lake Lodge for a quick look at the view.

Breathtaking!

We left the Lodge and headed North, turning around at Colter Bay. As we headed South again, on our way out of the Park, we passed by what will always be a special place for us . . . the location where we spent the most incredible time with Bonita - up close and personal. As we passed that special spot, there, in the trees, we spotted her again . . .

. . . and just like that, she was gone.

Back on the road in front of our house, the mule deer were moving closer to our place . . .

They like to come visit and munch on our flowers. The joke is on them, we don't have any, yet!

We changed and headed down for a quick walk and spotted that little moose along the walk before the bridge. Had to wait AGAIN for him to move into the brush, so we could pass safely.

As we waited, I heard the tap, tap, tapping of a woodpecker. In the tree next to where I was standing, I spotted a red-naped sapsucker! (Yeah, I did have to look that one up!) I busied myself photographing it while the moose munched.

Eventually, we were freed from the moose delay, and headed along our way. I spotted a hummingbird sitting atop a willow branch.

Upon closer inspection, turns out it was a male calliope hummingbird. (Yes. I looked that up, too. But I am making some headway on learning the names of all of these critters. And, there are a lot of critters here!)

As we headed up the hill and back toward Moose Point Lodge, guess who we spotted in the trees just two houses from ours. That silly little moose that likes to make me wait. Well, he was too far into the trees to scare me this time. We walked right by, after I got a couple of shots, of course!

The next day was Sunday, May 21st. We had a quiet breakfast and lunch at home, and then we headed down behind the house, so Don could do a little fishing.

The next morning, we went down for a walk and saw a heron . . .

. . . and a female moose resting by a river.

Funny thing about moose, they seem to ALWAYS see you.

She's ticked off at me, too!. Just look at those ears.

We quickly left the moose and, further along the trail, we came across a merganser on a log . . .

. . . and a pair of Canada geese, on what looked like a romantic walk. Probably house hunting for their growing family. It IS that time of year! For house hunting and babies!

This is the bridge where the one-eyed fish used to live. Haven't seen him for quite awhile. Wonder what ever happened to it.

We also saw a hummingbird. I think it was another calliope, but my photo didn't show enough detail to know for sure.

As we rounded the last bend in the trail, we spotted another young bull moose. I'm not certain, because they all pretty much look alike, but I think it's the one I'm usually waiting on. He didn't delay me this day! Ha!

As we were having lunch after our walk, look who made his way into our front yard! Just like he owned the place!

There is never a dull moment at Moose Point Lodge!

The following morning, at o'dark thirty, this guy was slinking along the wall in the backyard -

. . . and down toward the hot tub.

A third trail camera caught it walking behind the house . . .

. . . and a fourth camera caught him leaving our property by the garage. You'll have to look closely to see the image moving away.

Like I said, there is NEVER a dull moment here. That's one of the things we love about Wyoming, Wilson and Moose Point Lodge. One of many things . . .

Hope you all have a terrific day! I think we'll take it easy. HA!

Love, Barbara