Badger Moments

Apparently something changed in blog spot because it's taken me 2 evenings to figure out how to get back!

 September 7, 2012 Slough Creek Yellowstone National Park
Every other step I take through the sagebrush I must stop to catch my breath. Three medications taken to abate the migraine have drained my energy causing my breath to become even more labored than usual at this high elevation. I have chosen a spot overlooking Slough Creek to make tea and force a bowl of granola down into my nauseated stomach. Bison dot the lower creek valley filling the sagebrush-scented air with their vocalizations. Bison grunt- yes these big burly critters emit grunts- kid grunts, mama grunts, middle-aged grunts, teenager grunts, and rutting male grunts; all similar but different cadences. A kingfisher rattles in the background and tires on gravel break through the surrounding grunts.

I finished my cereal, grabbed my mug of tea, and looked for a rock to perch upon. That wasn't working well- too pointed, too low, dips filled with rainwater. I decide to take a few steps down a fly fishermen trail. I look to my right at a strange looking rock in the shade of a large sagebrush- and the rock moves!

 A badger head had poked out of a den hole at the base of the sagebrush 40-50 feet away from me. My camera wasn't far away so  I moved as quickly as I could to get it and my tripod. Mind you, all I have ever seen are road-killed badgers and I have searched for a live one for years (even where the largest concentration in North America resides) with no luck. Now when I least expect it one falls nearly in my lap!

Now, I would have been ecstatic just to see a badger; being able to photograph it with my new lens is the  yummy cream cheese frosting on the cake! We watched each other for several minutes. Then he moved a ton of dirt flying out behind him. It's amazing to see their large perfectly round tunnels dug in a matter of minutes. After trying to find something nearby, he decided to move on running across the open grassy area to a line of sagebrush along the creek bank. 

He started digging vigorously again, gave up, looked around, then moved quickly staying under the cover of the sagebrush and eventually following it upstream. Waddling along close to the ground he disappeared from my view.  I was left with such marvelous gratitude I couldn't bring myself to leave.

I hung out listening to the ravens gronk in the distance, surrounded by the grunts of feeding and wallowing bison. They drink from Slough Creek, wallow in their dusty areas, and run along the creek- just because they can.
People pass by looking for the perfectly choreographed moment along the road- which rarely happens. I listen to the wolves howling far in the distance- a carcass to feast on nearby. I feel the call of nature in all her glory on this picture perfect, albeit physically challenging, day. Time to move on to the outhouse and then on to see what perfectly choreographed moment I might find next........