–Editor’s note: A version of this post was first published in June 2024, after the author’s annual spring trip to Yellowstone National Park.
In Yellowstone National Park, a distant view of grizzly bears can be as satisfying as an up-close roadside view because it requires a keen eye and the animals are in more of a natural setting.
Can you spot the momma grizzly bear and her three cubs in the image I captured in late May, from a hillside opposite the Lamar Valley? (Answer at the bottom of the post.)
The bears had been grazing on both sides of the highway and creating sporadic traffic jams, or “bear jams,” whenever they were been visible.
Momma bear was with first-year cubs, or cubs of the year, born during the winter hibernation period. The curious little ones did not stray far from mom while I watched from a distance of 100-plus yards.
During this sighting the bears ascended a hillside opposite the valley after being run off by a bison herd in a meadow surrounded by sagebrush.
(Momma bear was so preoccupied with foraging, with her head down, that she did not seem to notice how closely she was leading her cubs to several bison and their newborn calves.)
The bears were too far for me to capture a detailed image with my 400-millimeter lens, but I’ve attached a cropped version of a different image from the same sighting that shows the bears in more detail.
The bears in the top images used for the quiz are circled below.
