Picture of the week

Wolves versus Bison

A pack of five wolves surrounding a group of three bison.  These wolves are trying to get at the smaller bison in the middle, protected by the two bigger adults.  Notice some of the existing wounds to the flanks of the younger bison caused from some of the previous attacks.  Given it is wounded, it is not likely these wolves will give up until they get their quarry.

These wolves were photographed up on a ridge about 1/4 mile away at the edge of the Lamar Valley within the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park.  I encountered this situation as it unfolded at the end of the day as the sun was just going down.  Watching this skrimish for about 45 minutes until it became to dark for further photography, the wolves would take turns trying to strike at the smaller bison, resulting in one of the bigger ones chase off the attacker, only to have another wolf come in from the opposite side to try its luck.  Talking to a few other observers who also happened to witness this, the general view is that this may go on all night, eventually wearing down the younger bison until it weakens enough to succumb to the attacks.

I traveled to Yellowstone at the end of February, spending three days exploring along the 45 mile road through the Lamar Valley from Mammoth.  During this time I was able to get quality captures of red foxes, coyotes, bison, moose, elk, big horn sheep, pronghorn antelope, bald eagles, and of course wolves.  Despite timing my trip toward the end of the winter season, temperatures in this area dropped to a low of -10 degrees F in the early morning hours.

The above image was captured with a Canon EOS 7D mark II using the supertelephoto 500mm f/4 L lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, as mounted on a tripod with a gimbal head.  Settings for the exposure were f/7.1, 1/800th sec, ISO 1600, and an exposure compensation of +1 EV.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2010-2016.  Last updated: 3/6/2016   ()