In Yellowstone National Park, a distant view of grizzly bears can be as satisfying as an up-close roadside view because it requires a keen eye and the bears are in more of a natural setting.
Can you spot the momma grizzly bear and her three cubs in the image I captured this week from a hillside above the Lamar Valley highway? (Answer below.)
These bears have been grazing on both sides of the highway and creating substantial traffic jams, or “bear jams,” whenever they’ve been visible.
Momma bear is raising three first-year cubs, or cubs of the year, and the tiny “COYS” were never far from her side while I observed them.
During this sighting the bears were ascending the hillside opposite the valley after being run off by a bison herd in a meadow surrounded by sagebrush.
They were too far for me to capture a detailed image with my 400-millimeter lens but I’ve attached a cropped version of a different image from the same sighting that shows the bears in more detail.
The bears are circled in the image posted below.
