This is the first of the three days of Yellowstone pictures that have not been posted. This was two days before the Sunday that we left the park.

In the morning, we got up early to see the wolves. (We posted these pictures and videos here.) Some of us were tired, so John and the cats took a nap. John needed a nap from getting up early. The cats needed a late morning nap to recover from the their early morning nap.

From Fishing Bridge, we had seen people walking on the Lake Yellowstone beach on the eastern side of the Yellowstone River. We finally realized that they got there from the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center beach. We planned to walk the beach to see Fishing Bridge from the beach, but first, we had to check for trout.

We went up to LeHardy Rapids to check for Yellowstone Trout. In the parking lot, we were not greeted by swarms of flying things instead of trout. (To be fair, we did not actually expect any parking lot trout, either.) The Salmonflies and some other moth like flies were everywhere. They did not bite or sting; mostly, they just got stepped on. These are the same one we found a month ago, except in vast numbers. They look like they belong in a Godzilla movie.

From the railing, you can see just how short the depth of field is. It is maybe a quarter of an inch of the railing in focus. Everything in front and behind become progressively more out of focus. The Salmonfly looks terrifying, but it does not even bite.

In the video, the neck of the Salmonfly looks red, but it is actually orange. The video is not recorded an the “raw” CLog format, so the camera does a best guess on the color. The color can not be easily corrected when it is encoded in the H.264 format. The video also shows the other moth-like bug flying around.

Down at the boardwalk along the river, we did not find any trout, but we were surprised by Harlequin Ducks. We had through they were gone for the year. With the 800mm lens, John was able to get some extreme closeups. Sadly, they were just sitting on the rocks. None of them were diving for food.

And this video is proof that being pretty does not mean you are a nice person.

After checking LeHardy Rapids, we went around the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center to check out the beach and a different view of the bridge. On the way, we ran into a Boisduval’s Blue Butterfly. This version of the blue is lacking the orange accents on the bottom of the wing.

A little further down the beach, John noticed an odd shape in the woods. It looked like a brush pile with ears. It turned out to be a Mule Deer either laying down or in a culvert.

At the point where the Yellowstone River flows out of Lake Yellowstone, we could see the bridge. If you look in the lower left, you can see a swallow or swift photo-bombing the picture.

As usual, the Barrow’s Goldeneye were roosting on the other side of the river.

On the walk back, the Mule Deer was still there chewing cud.

Back in the parking lot, I finally got a picture of the elusive grey bird that we saw a few weeks ago. Our best guess is that it is a female Brewer’s Blackbird.

After this, we headed back to the RV to relax and maybe start cleaning and packing.