Mother Nature’s Finale
Blog & photos by Evan Watts
On a cool morning, an eerie noise, sounding almost prehistoric, echoes through the crisp mountain air. An elk bugle… the first heard in nearly a year. The aspens, willows, and cottonwoods, all of which are full of vibrant green leaves, begin to yellow. Where a month ago, it was dark at 9 p.m., now, it’s dark by 7:30. As September begins, these signs show themselves by the day. It quickly becomes clear that fall has arrived, and Yellowstone is nosediving into another season of rapid change.
As the first snowfall of the year dusts the peaks of the Absaroka Range, a bull elk bugles in a mountain meadow, warding off those who might seek to claim his harem. Photo by Evan Watts
Fall is like Mother Nature’s finale, showing that she is still full of life and energy despite winter’s imminent return. The ungulates – hooved animals – undergo their annual ruts, in which the males battle one another and perform incredible displays of strength and dominance to gain mating rights with females. It begins with the bison. Their rut primarily takes place in August, but you will still see the bulls bellowing and chasing females well into fall. Then comes the elk. Bulls strip the velvet from their antlers in early September and prepare for a month-long ritual, in which they will gather harems of cows and try to defend them from other bulls. This effort can be tireless – many bulls lose 20% of their body weight during the rut. Next is the moose. While not nearly as vocal and flashy as the bison and elk, bull moose are incredibly formidable in the fall. Their rut is all about body language and posturing to intimidate one another. Fighting for a cow is a last resort. As autumn comes to an end, the smaller ungulates, such as deer and bighorn sheep, enter their ruts, signaling the end of warm days and leading into another long winter ahead.
A bull bison in his prime on Yellowstone’s Northern Range. Photo by Evan Watts
In addition to all this activity from the ungulates, bears have entered hyperphagia. Hyper (“over”) phagia (“hunger”) is a metabolic change that bears experience in the late summer and fall in preparation for hibernation, in which they excessively eat to pack on as much fat as possible before their winter slumber. During hyperphagia, bears can eat 20,000 calories in a day and put on hundreds of pounds. It is not uncommon to see bears browsing for food for hours on end during this time, making for excellent viewing opportunities.
A grizzly bear and her cubs feed in a mountain meadow, quickly working to gain weight as winter creeps nearer. Photo by Evan Watts
Autumn is a time of change for wolves, too. The pups, born in the spring, are now big enough to join adults on hunts. For the first time in their lives, pups will leave the safety of the rendezvous area and learn what it means to be an adult wolf. This can make for some of the most interesting wolf viewing opportunities presented all year in the park. This makes autumn one of my personal favorite times of year to watch these canines.
And of course, the colors of autumn are unmatched. Yellowstone’s meadows become amber waves of perennial grasses, dotted with red and orange shrubs and berry bushes. The park’s deciduous trees glow with golden yellow hues, and alpine snowstorms create moody blue shades that hang around the peaks throughout much of the season. In autumn, we see virtually every color displayed across the landscape, making it one of the most beautiful and photogenic times to visit the park. But what truly sets autumn in Yellowstone apart is the unique experiences it offers. It’s the only time of year when you can witness the ungulates’ annual ruts, a spectacle of strength and dominance. And the stunning fall foliage, combined with the chance to see bears, wolves, and other wildlife preparing for winter, makes autumn a truly special time to visit–and photograph–Yellowstone.
A pronghorn in front of one of the many vibrant aspen stands that dot Yellowstone’s Northern Range. Photo by Evan Watts
Speaking of photography, if you are someone who likes to document nature through the lens, autumn has a special treat for you as well… that is, aside from the colors, bears, wolves, and ungulates.
Fog.
That might sound insignificant, but the drama and mood that fog adds to a photographic scene cannot be overstated. Foggy conditions create mystery in images. They immediately invoke a sense of wonder in viewers, calling for them to look longer and more deeply at the picture. Foggy scenes are the most ethereal images one can capture in nature, and, due to the cooler mornings that grace Yellowstone in fall, fog is a common phenomenon throughout the park in the early morning.
Fog rising off of the mighty Snake River envelopes a grizzly bear and her cub as they wade out into the water to cross. Evan Watts
An elk trots through a meadow on a foggy morning in Yellowstone. Evan Watts
All of this is to say, autumn is a truly special time to see Yellowstone. Arguably the most dramatic and flashy of all the seasons, it will leave you with a great respect for the display that Mother Nature can put on when she wants to, and remind you that change can happen so very quickly, as it does by the day throughout Yellowstone at this time of year. If you book a tour with Yellowstone Wild, we would be honored to share this magic, and so much more, as we wrap up our summer season guiding in the world’s first national park!
To learn more about Evan, and the rest of the Yellowstone Wild team, visit our “About Us” page.