Wandering around the Park

Employees were offered the chance to go on the Chuckwagon Breakfast Ride for free.  This was a sort of  "shakedown cruise"  for the corral people and the wranglers to have everything right before the event is offered to the guests.  Would I like to ride in the wagon or on a horse ?   On am horse, of course !  The brown horse in the photo is Gopher, who was born into a wild horse band on land managed by the federal government.  Each year the wild horses are rounded up and some are sold at auction. The rest are released back into the wild. 
     Friday morning before work I launched Dolphin into Oxbow Lake. It was a beautiful clear morning and I saw 22 bird species.  I did not bring the camera with me.  Mama Ruddy Duck had 8 ducklings,  Mama Mallard had only 2 little fluffy ones.  The female Bufflehead did not have any ducklings with her, nor did the female Goldeneye.  Swallows swooped, Sparrows sang from the bushes as did Yellow Warblers.  
     Twice I heard a great splashing behind me, turned around, and watched a Moose trotting across a shallow area to another willow clump. 

Bison photo from Kelly Road the morning I was out looking at birds in the sagebrush.
  
  Sunday morning I joined a Ranger-led Bird Walk. She doesn't do this event very often so I was lucky to find out about it.  We walked from Moose Visitor Center past the Murie Cabins to a side-channel of the Snake River.  Birds were good.  While the group was watching a House Wren I turned around and saw a Red Fox not far away.  Everyone had a good look at it.  2 minutes later the group leader spotted baby fox kits near a cabin.  The den was under the old cabin.  We watched (thru the tall grass) as 4 fox kits romped and played in the sun while Mom was hunting for breakfast.  Truly an amazing find.
     Several touring cyclists have come by Cabin Office looking to spend the night.  The first man was from Scotland who had lost his job.  His wife gave permission for him to come to America and ride for 3 months cross-country.  A few nights ago 2 riders from the Great Divide Bike Route or Tour Divide came by asking for a cabin.  The route starts in Banff Park in Alberta and ends at  Antelope Wells, New Mexico. The route avoids all paved roads.