It's a noise many people have never heard, but unforgettable to all who have been lucky enough to hear the eerie sound. Bull elk make a loud vocalization that consists of screams that can be heard for miles, known as bugling. 

Click image to hear elk bugling.

 Bugling is heard in the fall, when male elk are trying to attract female mates and display dominance to other bulls.  Female elk are interested in the males that bugle most often and that have the loudest call.  Just after the sun sets in Grand Teton National Park find a pullout along the park road between Jenny Lake and Moose and you will have the amazing opportunity to hear the peculiar sound of a bull elk's call.

Photo credit: Irene F. Greenberg   

If you've been anywhere near Jackson this September you have undoubtedly noticed smoke in the air.  The news of prescribed fires, lightning-ignited fires, and fire danger ratings have been as omnipresent as

the smoke itself.   

Thanks to the dedication and hard work of Teton Interagency Fire personnel, Grand Teton National Park natural resource managers, various other fire crews, and many others, Jackson residents have remained safe.

To stay up-to-date about fire threat as well as fires in the area, visit the Teton Interagency Fire website and follow Grand Teton National Park and the Foundation  on Twitter.  Photo credit: Lisa Robertson  

It is inarguable -- fall is here!  Mornings are crisp, the leaves are changing, the elk are bugling and all of the animals in Grand Teton are preparing for the long winter ahead.  More specifically: 

• Elk and moose are now in their rutting period.

• The bison rut has ended.

• Songbirds are migrating south.

• Bears are in hyperphagia, a period of intense foraging prior to denning.

• Pika are still gathering, drying, and stacking vegetation on their "haypiles" which they will subsist on through the winter.

• Some osprey have begun their long migrations south.
• Wolf packs are traveling in groups, which include pups that were born this year.
• Carnivores and scavengers are seeking out gut piles left from hunter remains in national forest open hunt areas.
• Some ungulates are starting to put on their winter coats.
• Beavers have built lodges and are intensively building food caches that will sustain them under the ice during winter.

Send us your photos and videos of wildlife in Grand Teton National Park so we can share them with others on Facebook, Twitter and in these monthly eNewsletters!