Monday Visual Inspiration: Yellowstone, the Critter Edition

OMG anipals! Half the reason I do anything in nature is to see critters whose cuteness rivals that of my own kittehs. Yellowstone certainly did not disappoint in this respect.

Smuffalo! We saw eleventy million buffalo in Yellowstone (bison, really--all pure buffalo are now gone, and all that are left are buffalo with a little bit of domesticated cattle genetics in them, hence the name bison). This one was a just a few inches shorter than our 4Runner's top. yikes. People have actually been killed by buffalo because they think they're a combination of teddy bear and moo cow. No and no.

Wee little bird in the super-hot waters of Mammoth Hot Springs. No idea how he stands it.

OMGPONIES!!1!!! We went horseback riding to a chuckwagon dinner our second night in the park. I'd like to go back sometime when I can ride with many fewer people and have a little more control over the horse. These were pretty well-trained trail horses who spent most of their time walking nose-to-butt with the other horses.

A heron in the early morning fog over Alum Creek.

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore. Or maybe yeah, I dunno. Do you have any crackers or granola?"

Elk! We saw a fair amount of elk as well, mostly mamas and a few half-grown fawns.

You can barely see the coyote in the middle of this picture, but he's there, I promise.

We saw a few pronghorn antelope in the park, but most of them we saw outside of the park. They were not playing with the deer, but we also did not hear a discouraging word.

Oh my squee: chibbik. "Chibbik" is the word my family uses for "chipmunk", for whatever reason. We saw so many chipmunks that week that even Guy started saying "chibbik". They were always pesky/cute, but often they wouldn't be still enough to let me take a decent picture. This one, near Natural Bridge, was one exception.