Flora & Fauna

Flora & Fauna

Yellowstone's scenery is astonishing any time of day, though the play of light and shadow makes the park most appealing in early morning and late afternoon. That is exactly when you should be out looking for wildlife, as most are active around dawn and dusk, when animals move out of the forest in search of food and water. May and June are the best months for seeing baby bison, moose, and other young arrivals. Spring and early summer find the park covered with wildflowers, and autumn is a great time to visit because of the vivid reds and golds of the changing foliage. Winter visitors are the ones who see the park at its most magical, with steam billowing from geyser basins to wreath trees in ice, and elk foraging close to roads transformed into ski trails.

Bison, elk, and coyotes populate virtually all areas; elk and bison particularly like river valleys and the geyser basins. Moose like marshy areas along Yellowstone Lake and in the northeast corner of the park. Wolves roam throughout the region but are most common in the Lamar Valley and areas south of Mammoth, and bears are most visible in the Pelican Valley-Fishing Bridge area, near Dunraven Pass, and near Mammoth. Watch for trumpeter swans and other waterfowl along the Yellowstone River and for sandhill cranes near the Firehole River and in Madison Valley.

Controversy swirls around the park's wolves, which were reintroduced in 1995, as well as its bison, which sometimes roam outside the park in winter. Both draw headlines because neighboring cattle ranchers see the creatures as a threat to their herds.