The evening we arrived we had just enough time to drive a few miles into the park.  The ranger who sold us our lifetime senior pass (good for the rest of our lives at any national park, monument or other national attraction requiring an entrance fee) told us we had enough time before dark to see a few elk. And we did. I've decided to group our pictures of Yellowstone wildlife together.  I think this is a male.  It was too early in the season for their racks to have grown, but it appears to have some "buds" above the eyes. The elk were not densely populated yet.  This is a group that was along the road we traveled from our hotel into the park The buffalo, on the other hand, were plentiful and herds were thick and numerous. It was the season of calving for the buffalo.  Here is a calf with its mother The buffalo ruled Yellowstone,  where ever they wanted to be, they went.  It's a good thing everyone in Yellowstone is either near where they need to be or on vacation and in no hurry, because you waited on these beasts to clear the road before you moved on. Although there were warnings galore about buffalo appearing to be peaceful but often will attack, and instructions telling visitors to stay a respectful distance away, not everyone took notice. By far, buffalo related injuries are the most reported, treated and sometimes deadly in the park. (The park has outlawed feeding the bears and the bears no longer come to cars and people except to camps where food appears to be available.) One morning, on our way to the main part of the park we saw a group of cars and people on the side of the road, we learned to stop and see what was happening and in this case they were eyeing a bald eagle resting on the top of a dead tree.  My camera even at the highest zoom couldn't get it any larger. But with my wonderful and very old photo editing program I was able to crop out the eagle and come up with this zoomed image. Across the street was an Eagle's nest, which we all assumed belonged to this eagle. These three grizzly bear cubs (above) were next to the forest along the road from Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons, we heard about them after we checked into the lodge there and back tracked to find them.  We had learned that female grizzly bears will not mate while caring for cubs, and because of that males will try to kill the cubs so they can mate.  A local resident standing in the crowd observing these cubs said the mother had learned to stay close to the highway because the males would not venture towards the roads.  Once again, the zoom on my camera was only "so" effective and you can't tell much from this photo, but the one below is "photoshopped" to give us a closer view.  Pardon the out of focus look. We didn't see many birds.  This is an aptly named yellow headed blackbird. and this is a duck There was a "Wildlife Rescue Refuge" near the motel, not part of the Park.  They had wolfs and bears that were "rescue" animals, for some reason unable to return to the wild. Below are pictures of both.  And that's it for wildlife photos.  Not a day went by that we didn't see Elk or Buffalo.  The Eagle and Grizzly cubs were special.  To get to the geysers and other geological things we took a fairly short road (14 miles) from West Yellowstone into the park at what on the map is Madison.  This road ended at the main North/South route.  It was along this road that the pictures of the Elk, Buffalo and Eagle were taken.  To continue your site seeing tour click on the South Loop tab below