• Wolves, foxes, and coyotes are out and about, localizing around den sites, and tending to newborn pups and kits.
• Bald eagles, ravens, great-horned owls, and other early-season nesting birds are incubating eggs.
• Birds that migrate out of Jackson Hole in the fall are returning in increasing numbers. Osprey, bluebirds, meadowlarks, sandhill cranes, and others have returned to the valley.
• Bears are out in increasing numbers. They are looking for winter-killed carcasses, left over berries, pine seeds, and new vegetation on which they feed during the spring months. Be sure to carry bear spray when traveling throughout the ecosystem.
• Beavers are showing up as ice melts from ponds and are raising new families inside their dens.
• With the early spring weather, bighorn sheep in the Tetons have moved off their high elevation winter ranges to mid-elevations where they can access nutritious vegetation green-up.
• Have you seen any “ghost moose” this spring? Moose with a ghost-like appearance are exhibiting the effects of winter tick infestations, which results in patches of broken hair or bare skin from attempts to rub off the ticks.
• Numbers of sage grouse attending lek (mating) sites likely peaked during April.
