Readers’ wildlife photos

Get those photos in, please!  Several readers obliged, and I’m grateful.

Today’s batch comes from Gary Radice, whose captions and descriptions are indented. Click the photos to enlarge them.

I just returned from a trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone. I was outside the Park in  West Yellowstone when the devastating floods hit and was never in danger.

In the days before the flooding my wife and I saw quite a bit of wildlife but rarely close enough for pictures. Except these:

In Yellowstone, we watched a single trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator) preening in the middle of the Firehole River, close enough to photograph with my small telephoto lens.

And near the Obsidian Cliffs we saw a pair of sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) with two little chicks. I was pretty far away and I couldn’t get a shot of the whole family, but I did get this one. I think the sandhill crane is my absolutely favorite bird. I could watch them for hours.

And in the Tetons, we went to visit Mormon Row to photograph the barns, common site for photographs. There was a magpie sitting on a post that I hoped would make it a little more interesting. I was using my iPhone for this one. Just as I took the shot the bird flew off. “Darn,” I thought. “The bird will be just a blur.” Later I opened the picture on my laptop.

This one is worth seeing enlarged. [JAC: the bird is there!]