We planned to do nothing today because John had to make a lot of calls. He finished them earlier than expected, so we decided to look for owls in the evening.

Kate turned towards what she thought was the east entrance, but we ended up at LeHardy Rapids. This turned out to be okay because we saw the largest flock of Harlequin Ducks that we (or other people) had seen. At the peak, there were 15 ducks, and two were female!

Twelve ducks, including two females, were visible when we first arrived.

The lady on the left looks a little peeved; maybe the men are being annoying. The one on the right seems more approachable, but she might be a little clueless.

It was evening, so the ducks were not as active as the last visit in the afternoon.

While looking at the Harlequin Ducks, a medium sized raptor flew overhead. Based on the color of the body and underwing, it was probably a Swainson’s Hawk.

Next, we drove out towards the east entrance. We stopped along the river a few times to look. We saw three muskrats swimming around, but they were too skittish to get a picture.

At the east edge of Yellowstone lake. the Overlook Butte road was open, so we drove to the top. There was a vintage Yellowstone tour bus in the parking lot, lots of yelling kids, and sunset was still a half hour away. (Click here for a Google Street View of Overlook Butte.)

We drove further east to pass time until sunset and the tour group left. A few miles down the road, Kate saw a Mule Deer with antlers. This was the first one we had seen with antlers.

While John was photographing a deer, Kate was photographing him and taking selfies.

Not surprisingly, someone in a truck screeched into the pull out to ask “Is it a bear?”. Of course, it was not. They “kindly” informed us there were bears up the road, gunned their engine, drove off, and scared away every animal for half a mile. Tourists: can’t live with them; can’t legally run them over.

Fortunately, the deer had wandered away before the “helpful” truck arrived. We drove back to the Overlook Butte. The tour bus was leaving, and the sun was setting. The tour buses are the original buses with updated safety features.

We each took an assortment of sunset pictures.

Kate turned around and starting taking pictures of the sunset’s rear end.

Kate pointed out the moon was behind clouds over the mountain, and John agreed that the rear end of the sunset was much prettier than the sunset. This is probably one of the best photos. Increases the saturation would be prettier, but less realistic.

He took a lot of pictures and tried different exposures and tone equalization. The processing changes the detail visible in the shadows, the detail visible in the moon, and the colors of the sky. Some day, we will get one of these printed on a canvas.

While John was taking pictures of the moon rise, Kate was taking pictures of John.

When it was too dark for good pictures, and the clouds had passed, we started to pack up to leave. John stopped Kate before they moved more than a few feet because he saw the silhouette of … something. It looked like it might be a … PRAIRIE CHICKEN!!! (Spoiler Alert: It was a Dusky Grouse, but they are closely related.) Prairie Chickens puff out their throats to show a colorful throat sack near mating time. This bird was doing something similar.

At this point, it was getting quite dark out. The pictures and videos are going to be darker with more noise.

They look like tiny turkeys from the back.

The Dusky Grouse wandered away, and it was too dark for the camera to focus. We headed home. When we got back, someone started a squabble and had to go to kitty jail.

Fortunately, kitty jail is tiring.