Glacier National Park- animals

To most people traveling in and through our National Parks, scenery is the entire purpose. I am a bit different. When I go to a new area, I want to know about the bird life and the general state of wildlife. I was very interested in seeing more of Idaho and especially seeing Montana. I of course have only seen a small slice of both states, but what I have seen is to me quite eye opening. The thing that I noticed the most was the scarcity of Raptors. Perhaps I am just spoiled coming from a state with large populations of Hawks. I think I only saw 3 Ferruginous Rough Legs, One Golden and one Bald Eagle. I also heard a Osprey at one of the Mountain lakes.

I managed to see all my target species of wildlife with the exception of Elk. I could have done that if not for an over achieving Ranger that would not allow me to pull to the side of the road. It was on a straight stretch, unfortunately the only traffic was a Ranger, but rules are rules after all. I was quite pleased with what I was able to see, and I managed pictures of most of them. I did see a Gray Fox, but he was in afterburner and gone in a flash.

The Hoary Marmot was well represented.

 This one was licking the ground and he couldn't be bothered by my presence.

 These two were licking the pavement, I think from spilled drinks.

 These guys were behind a fence on the way to Browning.

 These Goats were at Logan Pass and again licking the road. Perhaps the remains of road salt?

 A little cutie!

 This one was lying on a slab of rock panting from the heat.

Notice the Bot Larva on her jaw.

 These were playing hide and seek in the scrub trees at the top of the pass.

 This Big Horn was ducking tourist along the path to Hidden Lake.

These Guy's were licking the road just down from the top and I kinda pushed them out of the way so I could get by.

This is a Columbia Ground Squirrel dining on weeds in the flower bed.

They look like the Beldings that infest this area, but their squeaks are different.

This little guy is one of three Weasels that hunt the Squirrels at the visitors center. They are afraid of no one and are likely to use your shirt for a shortcut if necessary.

This little Pine Squirrel was on the Sun Point trail. Totally unafraid.

The Deer are Columbia Whitetail as near as I can figure. The ones I saw in Central Idaho are about   German Shepard size.

 I saw five Bears total. Three of the Four Black Bears were the Cinnamon phase. This one was hunting Squirrels on one of the open patches, but a heck of a long way off.

This is the only Black phase one that I saw, and it was at Avalanche Lake. 

This Cinnamon one caught me without my camera, and the only thing I had to record it was a hand held video camera that is impossible to hold steady. Its a bit blurry, but notice the field of flowers that it is foraging in.

 This is one of the two Moose that I saw, and it is a hell of a long way off. It was a Bull however and the antlers are still in Velvet. They were feeding off the bottom of the lake.

 I actually saw little bird life, at least that registered with my consciousness. This Stellers BlueJay surprised me.

On our way to Avalanche Lake Connie noticed a Water Ouzel working the riffles. I took about 15 shots trying to get one that would be worth putting in this, and I am still not happy about them. I also was not able to find this critter to check for spelling in any of my bird books. I had to resort to my phone to get the correct spelling. :-/

We did see a Grizzly, but he was a couple of thousand yards off at the time. Had we been a bit earlier on the trail to Hidden Lake we might have seen him try to run down one of the little Goat Kids. Apparently he had been successful a bit earlier in the season, but the one that he chased this time was able to out run him. I talked to a hiker that told me that he was walking up the trail and the Bear smelled the Goats and ran within 20 yards of him trying to catch one of them. Lucky for him it was Goats it was after, and that he did not smell like a Goat..