Today, we planned to sit somewhere and watch. We had talked about this a few times, but we had not done it. In Yellowstone, there is a problem with FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. Not matter where you are in the park, there is something interesting happening somewhere else. If there is nothing happening where you are, there is a strong urge to drive around until you see something. You might end up just driving from animal jam to animal jam. You might also end up driving away from something that is just about to happen where you are. Worrying about it too much will make your brain hurt.

The first stop was supposed to be Nez Perce Ford, but Kate had to mail post cards. Since we were right at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, she wanted to check on the hotel tours. The kitchen is still being renovated, so there are no hotel residents or tours, yet.

There were some birds flying around the back entrance, which John realized were Cliff Swallows. Looking up, we saw their little clay nests stuck in the eves of the hotel. Remember the “Cliff Swallow peeking out of their nest” photos we failed to get in Guernsey State Park? We got them here.

The white mark on their head looks like part of the carapace on a beetle. They look like little alien insect birds peeking out of their hive.

We entered the hotel from the back, near the post office. The hotel had a little bit of old-school swank with hardwood floors, lower ceilings, and visible support columns. The front side of the hotel has most of the swanky exterior architecture, like the rotunda room, columned porch, and covered visitor drop-off. Across the street from the hotel is a viewing deck and Lake Yellowstone. The view of the lake was phenomenal; the loud hoard of family reunion attendees on the deck was not so phenomenal.

We saw a Brown-headed cowbird on the lake viewing deck. They are pretty ubiquitous, but we had not seen any close enough to identify or photograph. They also have a pretty iridescence on their bodies. Someone pointed it to a cookie piece on the ground, and it tore that cookie to shreds.

Next, we went to the Nez Perce Ford picnic area. (There were only Chevrolets, Hondas, and Hyundais; we did not see any Fords in the picnic area. Ha-ha! I make me laugh.) We put out our chairs and watched for about an hour. At first, we only saw the normal birds – Common Mergansers and Mallards.

A little later we saw the Spotted Sandpiper from a few days ago. This seems to be a good place to see Spotted Sandpipers; we saw at least three or four different individuals feeding on the islands in the river. They are pretty small and far away, so the photos are mediocre. While taking one of the pictures, a sandpiper flew by and photo bombed John. Towards the end, there were two doing synchronized wing stretches.

After watching the sandpipers for a while, a Great Blue Heron flew behind some trees off to the side. A short while later, John saw another heron land in the top of one of the trees. We thought it might be a nest. We went investigate, and it does look like there is a nest under the Great Blue Heron.

We also had to go to Corkscrew Bridge Overlook before leaving the park because Kate thinks Yellow-bellied Marmots are adorable. The marmots come up to and onto the overlook. They were out in force today. We saw at least five or six different marmots, but only three marmots got close to the overlook. As usual, people kept driving up and scaring them off, but we got pictures this time.

Unfortunately, it turns out that they are so close and visible because someone is dumping cat food at the overlook. Cat food is probably not nutritionally balanced for marmots, and it makes them dependent on people for food. Sadly, the rangers said there was nothing they could do without catching the people in the act of dumping cat food. John thought that cleaning up the cat food and putting up a monitoring camera would be a thing they could do, but he opted to keep his mouth shut, for once.

And Kate’s favorite thing about marmots – Helicopter Tail.

After the marmots, we planned to stop at Sylvan Lake because River Otters had been seen there. On the drive there, we saw a stopped car that flashed head lights. Just past the car, two Blonde Grizzly Bears were visible from the road. We are split on whether it is two young grizzlies from different years or a mother and a second or third year cub. (We think this might be the pair of bears that someone interrupted us about during our Antlered Mule Deer photo shoot.)

Kate pulled over, and the bear was between trees, hard to see, and would require photos through the wind shield. (FYI, auto focus does not always work through the windshield for large lenses with small apertures.) John harangued Kate into illegally stopping in the middle of the road like the tourists that we bitterly complain about. The good news is that the grizzly was about 20 feet from the car at the closest. The bad news is that the window was down to take pictures. Kate swears that she was ready to drive off the instant the bear charged. Fortunately, her reflexes were not tested.

Just before leaving, the smaller one looked into the camera. When she saw he photo, Kate said she wanted to hug it. Everyone, please, remember to tell Kate that Grizzly Bears are too dangerous to hug. Even the small ones.

John also took a few videos, but he could not get out and put the camera on the tripod, unless he wanted to get mauled. The videos are not as stable as the ones shot from the tripod.

We finally stopped at Sylvan Lake, but all we saw were Common Merganser and mosquitoes the size of Chicken Hawks.

At this point, we decided to go back to Fishing Bridge. (This was when we spoke to the ranger about the cat food.)