If you’ve never been to Yellowstone National Park, you may be surprised to learn that bison (a.k.a. buffalo) are so plentiful, that it might be impossible to not see at least a few when you visit the park.  Late spring is one of my favorite times of the year to go because it is relatively cool, uncrowded, and there are lots of little bison around.

 

When we go, we usually spend several days in the park.  The first day is filled with awe and tremendous patience as we see bison sitting in meadows, walking alongside the road, and even (frequently) stopping traffic as they walk on the road.  Truly, this is an amazing sight for a city slicker!  After several days, the awe lessens a little, as we get used to seeing these creatures all around us; we get a little jaded — we expect to see them.  Some visitors (perhaps they’ve stayed too long) even get impatient with these creatures, driving around them or honking their car horns at them.  For them, there is little joy in the exclamation, “Look, a buffalo.”

 

One early afternoon, there was a group of bison in a meadow just next to the road.  Some cars were pulled over for closer looks.  A few of us got out of our cars and started snapping photos.  Equipment ranged from disposable film cameras to the nicest digital SLRs with big glass (including one guy, armed with a 600mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, who admitted that it was “a bit too much lens” for this situation — the bison were that close).  I took this picture at 300mm focal length which kept me a relatively safe distance from these creatures.  After I took this shot, I noticed the faces on these bison (especially the youngster) and couldn’t help but wonder if they don’t get a little jaded at seeing humans.