When most people hear “wildlife photographer”, they think about these animal encounters deep in the wilderness or backcountry. Or maybe they think days or weeks sitting in a photo blind for a moment or two with some elusive species. While these are great examples of what some of us wildlife photographers choose to do to get our images, the reality is that many of our greatest pictures are taken from a vehicle window or along some crowded road in a national park. This is exactly where I found myself one chilly spring morning. 

Driving along a road in Yellowstone National Park, my dad in the passenger seat, we seemed to be seeing more cars and people than we were wildlife. This spring trip was a tradition for my dad and I. We’d seen a lot so far over the last couple of days, but this morning seemed to be abnormally slow for us. Luckily, things can change in the blink of an eye in Yellowstone National Park. Making our way through the beautiful terrain, we noticed a few vehicles parked off the side of the road ahead. Out here, in this area of the park, that usually meant a Bear or a Wolf. Pulling over, we quickly saw the cause of the onlookers excitement. A mother Grizzly bear with two large cubs digging around in the middle of a roadside meadow.

As we watched the Grizzly family over the next 45 minutes, we noticed that one of the large cubs began to lag behind. Pre-occupied by digging for roots, ground squirrels and other tasty morsels, he didn’t notice his mother and sibling cross the nearby road and head into the sparse forest.

Wildlife photography isn’t simply about taking pictures of what’s in front of you at the time, but constantly looking for likely opportunities and possibilities, and knowing animal behavior is one of the best ways to do this. The mother and cub that had stayed together were much closer to us than the lone cub on the opposite side of the road. I watched as the crowd of photographers that had gathered and lined up shifted positions and began to photograph the closer, retreating bear bums disappearing into the trees. Knowing what was likely to happen soon on the opposite side of the road, I whispered to my dad to stay focused on the solitary cub. Within moments, the cub lifted his head and quickly realized that he was all alone. Running forward and closer to us, looking for mom and sibling, the lone cub stood up on its hind legs to get a better view of the area. Click, click, click… A brief moment, just a couple of seconds and the cub was back on all fours, running into the trees after the rest of his family. What a wonderful morning in Yellowstone. A family of bears, an educated guess and a pair of very happy photographers!