They're back.

Again this year a short trip by kayak across the cove gives you a visual and auditory treat. The pair of Great Blue Herons who nested at the top of a pine tree on the island across the cove from our cabin have returned this spring and, from the looks of it, they have hatched a second brood of chicks.

You hear them first when you go out in the morning. Its an unmistakable, almost prehistoric, cackling of multiple voices. The sound draws your attention to a bank of tall pine trees on the shore of the island. Then you see the adults flying in and landing in the same spot high above and the cackle subsides while a feeding takes place. 

The nest is near the peak of the tallest tree, at least three stories in the air. In a kayak, you can get within yards of the tree base and, finding the right viewing spot, you can catch a few nearly very young heron sticking their heads up from the nest in anticipation between feedings. Around the nest, flying in wide circles and landing nearby are several older but still immature herons, apparently from an earlier nest.

They gather on a nearby nest to beg for food. Their calls were enthusiastic, lots of raucous caws and awks. When joined by the chicks in the first nest, their cacophony fills the air. Our ten year-old neighbor Zander says they sound awful. "It's like having dinosaurs across the cove."

Photo and text copyright Clinton Richardson. The image is actually from our Wild Atlanta gallery at TrekPic.com in the Close to Home collection and was taken several weeks ago along Cochran Shoals. I did not take a camera with me on the day I first spied the herons but did later on as discribed in future posts.

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First, let me be clear that Magic Mike was not his real name. I have changed it to protect him from my description. He was a congenial guy but, as you will see, there was no magic in his wildlife guiding skill set.

To give him his due, he did arrive on time after driving up from Jackson to the Old Faithful Snow Lodge to pick us up at 8:00 a.m. It was snowing when he started so it wasn't an easy trip. And, his web site had great photos of animals seen on his tours. He was cheerful and talkative and knew his way around Yellowstone, which was important because it was snowing much of the time and half of the roads were still closed.

His Suburban was a mess, which was our first clue that maybe this would not be a magical tour. Just a few miles out from the lodge near the Black Sand Basin came our second clue. Driving along at a fair speed, Mike spotted an otter running across the snow. He quickly rolled down the windows and started shouting "take your pictures, take your pictures!"

Apparently, otter sightings are rare in Yellowstone. And, from our experience they were quick. Before you knew it he was gone as were we. In his excitement, Mike had forgotten to stop the car. We just kept cruising down the road. What wildlife guide does not stop when there is wildlife to view?

Mike was especially keen on spotting a wolf and determined to make it happen no matter how far we had to drive. He was also full of chit chat about his childhood - he read a 330 page book when he was in the fourth grade - but a bit lacking on wildlife and habitat information we were hoping to hear.

Off we sped for miles until our monotony was spoiled by a crowd alongside the road. You quickly learn that much wildlife spotting, particularly during the main part of the day, happens by finding cars parked alongside the road and people pointing their binoculars and cameras at a field. Here the the subject was a lone coyote crossing a snow covered field.

We pulled over and I took this photo with a very long lens. It was nice to get out of the car and see something. We had stopped a couple of times before but without luck. And, this coyote, nice as he was, did not satisfy Mike's longing for a wolf. Next stop lunch.

Now let me say this about guides and lunch. Usually they are clear. You bring your own or they bring a lunch or, in the Parks, they have a spot in mind where you stop for lunch. Nothing fancy usually but palatable.

Mike was not clear and had something else in mind - a chili dog from a place near Mammoth Hot Springs that served only chili dogs. The rest of us pulled something together from a nearby snack rack. Not much of a lunch for the guests but there was entertainment value in the stop. Mike wore the residue of his treasured chili dog - his first of the season - proudly on his face for the rest of the day.

After lunch, we made a beeline for the Lamar Valley region of the Park still in search of the elusive wolf. At this point, we were as far as we could be from our lodge and still be in the park and I was feeling a bit like I do when I fish with by brother-in-law Bert. He likes to speed off in his bass boat across the lake to a favorite spot, put his lure in for two minutes and when he gets no hit, speed off to another spot at the other end of the lake. And over and over. Mostly boating. Very little fishing.

Still, it was nice to get out and the weather was interesting. Snow on and off in bunches. Sometimes good visibility and sometimes not. The image above will give you a feel for how things were in the Lamar Valley. The last image in this blog is from this area and one of my favorites.

And we did "spot" a black bear with her cub. At least that's what Mike claims. And, again it was because of a crowd on the side of the road. It was snowing pretty hard at the time and I could make out a black dot near a tree at some distance but I cannot say with any certainty whether I saw a black bear or participated in a mass hallucination. Judge for yourself below.

The weather cleared as we headed back from the Lamar Valley, sighting mostly bison. On our way back we made a major stop and got out of the Suburban to hike through a valley to a vantage point that would let us point our binoculars on a hole in a far away hill that serves as a wolf den.

To get to the vantage point we had to walk near a small herd of bison with their young and not far from a small herd of antelope. More than solitary wildlife at last. Bison are impressively large and wild looking when you get up close, which is what we ended up doing when we headed back to the car. While we were searching unsuccessfully for wolves, the bison herd moved behind us, blocking our path to the car.

We made it back to the car using a circuitous avoid-the-patty route as the bison continued to move in our direction. If you look closely at the photo below and check out the injuries on the bison you will see why we kept a safe distance. The presence of the young bison make the females particularly unpredictable if they feel threatened.

So, by now you are probably thinking this trip was a bust. Too much driving and not enough wildlife. But, no, I would call it a resounding success. Just to be in Yellowstone is a treat. And, the unpredictable weather and guide added an element of excitement to the trip.

For all his shortcomings, Mike was pleasant and much better than our last guide at Yellowstone. That involved a trip years ago with our son when an emergency back home left us with just one day to visit the park. The last-minute guide I found was a Jim Carey/Ace Ventura clone who did not smell very pleasant.

When he jumped out of our van to get closer to a grizzly that was crossing the road all I could think of then was the old adage that to survive a bear attack you just have to be faster than at least one person in your party. He survived and there was no attack and, yes, that was a great trip too. Perhaps we will return talk about Ace at a future date.

Travel is an adventure. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

Here's the idyllic scene along the Madison River earlier this May. If you caught my last post, you will know I was out early this morning looking for wildlife to observe and photograph. We had snow the day before and the temperatures, while rising, were still in the mid-30s.

After a couple of hours of roaming the park and about 7:30 a.m., these two elk greeted me near an overlook off the road to West Yellowstone. The closer elk was actually on the lip of the overlook when I pulled up and walked slowly toward the river and it's companion on the other side when I got out of my car.

As the picture shows, the elk seemed unconcerned about me and my camera. In fact, all their attentions were focused on grazing as I stayed a respectful distance away. 

As I was watching, and about 150 yards east of this scene (to the left as you look at the elk), a lone wolf trotted out of the woods and started making his way in the direction of the elk. His progress was not hurried and you could not tell if there were others still in woods nearby.

The elk seemed unaware of the wolf even though my heart raced a bit even though I was a good 100 yards away across the river and near my car. This continued for several minutes as the wolf made its way deliberately toward the elk.

Eventually the female did lift her head to look in the wolf's direction. But she put her head back down and continued to graze. At this point the wolf had advanced to within about 50 yards of the elk.

The wolf continued it's leisurely stroll toward the elk, getting to within 15 to 20 yards before the male elk on the far side of the river took notice and started walking in the direction of the wolf. The wolf slowed down and waited intently. Within a couple of minutes a stare off ensued, wolf against elk.

No other wolves appeared. Apparently, he was alone or the others didn't want to tackle and adult elk.

Perhaps, sensing this, the elk lowered it's head and charged. The wolf quickly turned and ran into the woods.

The whole episode took about ten minutes from the wolf's arrival to his escorted departure. Spotting a wolf in the park is somewhat rare and this was not near a known den.

You never know what you are going to find when you head out with your camera. Sometimes it's nothing but rarely does it include a confrontation like this one. So, this city boy counted himself lucky that morning to see the wolf and elk interact.

The elk returned to what they were doing, not making any effort to move further down the river. I watched for awhile longer and made my way back to the Old Faithful Snow Lodge to meet up with friends.

All photos and text copyright Clinton Richardson. These and other images from Yellowstone and Grand Teton are posted on our sister site at www.Trekpic.com in our Wild Wyoming Gallery.

IfIf you like these posts, please tell your friends about the Venture Moola blog at Readjanus.com. And, feel free to share this blog. The more readers the better.  Click here to subscribe to a weekly email that tells you when we issue new entries. Or, click in the column to the left to follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Sorry, to be a day late with this posting but we are just back from two weeks out West. Our trip took us to northern Idaho, then east along the Clark River through Missoula  to Yellowstone National Park and ended with a few days in Jackson, Wyoming enjoying the Grand Teton Mountain range and the national park that bears its name.

This image is from our third day in Yellowstone, when I got up early to photograph the sunrise and spend some early hours looking for wildlife. My hopes for a sunrise were thwarted by a heavy cloud cover that remained over Yellowstone from the snowfalls we experienced the day before. Traveling out West at the end of April into early May means the weather will be unpredictable and often cold and snowy.

The temperatures had risen overnight into the mid 30s, so much of the snowfall had disappeared by the time I took this photo. What you are seeing is the Madison River flowing west out of Yellowstone. We had seen bison and elk driving into the park from West Yellowstone a couple of days before so I hoped to catch one or the other that morning. At just after sunrise in early May, there were hardly any cars on the road which raised my hopes of finding some animals to practice photographing.

We plan to head to Kenya and the Masai Reserves later in the year to see African wildlife and take some pictures, so a trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons is not only great in and of itself, it also serves as a chance to practice photographing mega fauna in the wild. Ranging across these two parks are bison, elk, grizzlies, black bears and moose, to name a few.

I will be writing more about the trip and sharing images of the animals we saw in later entries in this blog. Suffice to say for now that less than a mile east of where this early picture was taken, I happened upon a pair of elk grazing by the river.

Taking my time to compose images and just watch the scene unfold, I was treated to a rare sighting in the park, a lone wolf scampering beside the riverbank toward the elk. I  had the good fortune to photograph what transpired and that will be the subject of our next post.

Image copyright 2018 by Clinton Richardson. All photos and text copyright Clinton Richardson. This and other images from Yellowstone and Grand Teton are posted on our sister site at www.Trekpic.com in our Wild Wyoming Gallery.

If you like these posts, please tell your friends about the Venture Moola blog at Readjanus.com. And, feel free to share this blog. The more readers the better.  Click here to subscribe to a weekly email that tells you when we issue new entries. Or, click in the column to the left to follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Alexander the Great returned to the city of Ecbatana in the fall of 324 BC for a three-month binge of drinking and entertainment.

The city was an appropriate cite for a celebration. Alexander had first been there after the Battle of Gaugamela. And, it was outside the city where Darius III, the great Persian emperor and warrior, had been captured. This secured Alexander's claim to the Persian Empire and opened the East as far as India to his conquest.

Alexander had 3,000 entertainers and artists brought from Greece to mark his conquest with a weeks long celebration. But tragedy struck during the event. Alexander’s closest companion and suspected lover, Hephaestion, fell ill and died after drinking heavily and eating a fowl.

Glaucus, his doctor, was at the theater at the time and unable to help. Distraught, Alexander ordered the doctor crucified and the tails and manes of all the horses to be cut. The celebration was over.

The city of Ecbatana was also the site where this coin was minted. It shows the great Greek hero Heracles on the front, fashioned in the image of Alexander himself, wearing a lion’s head for a headdress. On the back is Zeus, the greatest of the Greek gods and father to Heracles seated on a throne holding an eagle and a scepter.

The coin and its imagery served a purpose in Alexander's plans for conquest. He used it to portray himself as a god-like ruler to his friends and foes. The lion’s headdress and portrayal of his profile as the hero Heracles provided a powerful graphic image to everyday citizens that the new ruler was to be respected and obeyed. The portrait of Zeus’ on a throne with a powerful eagle on his hand, re-enforces the message of power and connects Alexander to the greatest of the Greek gods.

For more about this Ancient Selfie and others check out the book Ancient Selfies - History Revealed Through The World's First Social Media: Ancient Coins or our website at ancientselfies.com.

About the coin: Alexander at Ecbatana. Silver obol of Alexander the Great minted in Ecbatana between 336 and 326 BC. 10.3 grams. 67 mm. Acquired from Forum Ancient Coins, Morehead City, North Carolina in 2006. Featured in Ancient Selfies - History Revealed Through The World's First Social Media: Ancient Coins, a Finalist in the 2017 International Book Awards.