What am I going to buy?

To you ever have one of those last minute shopping panic attacks?

 

Big Horn Lambs

These guys were frisky and frolicking with their mothers on a cliff side that gave me motion sickness when filming them. Loose stones were tumbling down a few hundred feet as they moved across the cliff. Perhaps this gives a little better idea of their playground.

 

Coyote hunting Bighorns

It is rare to see a chase or hunting sequence in Yellowstone. Most of the time the animals are eating, eating, or just plain eating. A fellow visitor told me a coyote was hunting these bighorns but I said "No, they are just in the rut." He had witnessed a coyote chase one of the sheep over the cliff a few years ago.  Once again humbled in Yellowstone.

The Challenge

This young ram was smart and did not accept the challenge of the much bigger and older ram. Perhaps he had a headache from the last time he accepted the challenge. These guys were a side show to the main event happening above them.

Attack from Above

These rams have no rules, if one can be attacked it will be even from above. I guess in love and war (and perhaps politics) anything goes. Most wildlife sightings are from the road in Yellowstone and as you can hear I was not alone witnessing this spectacle. I was lucky to see multiple battles between rams from relatively close range.

Technical: focal length not always recorded but less than 900 mm most of the time using a set up of 100-400mm lens and 1.4 teleconverter on a C100 that has a crop factor.

Head Butt

I tried to catch this iconic action several times but always missed it because  the real action between mature rams above them was so intense. These guys were playing in there own sandbox while the big boys were sharing their genes. This is what you see on TV but in reality is not the focus of energy during the rut.

Technical: contact slowed to 25% real time

Rejected Ram

 

This is another short piece from my recent trip to the Badlands. The purpose of the trip was to capture big horn rut activity and this is the closest I came to it. The iconic shot of big rams charging each other is a rare occurrence and most of the time the "bumps" are like this. It is also clear the ewe is not ready and is leading the rams around. She would stop to urinate, the rams would check it, then joust for dominance.

Big Horn Sheep Die

The area along the old Yellowstone Road north of Gardiner, MT, is a great place to photograph big horn sheep during the November rut. Over this Thanksgiving weekend there were over 100 sheep along the road in the farm fields. Photographers lined the road to watch the spectacle. During the last couple weeks there has been a serious problem with the sheep falling victim to pneumonia, ten have died within the last two weeks. for more information check this link: Big Horn Sheep Deaths

Long Story, Short Video

This short video that started with a bald eagle in a tree. The couple who first saw the eagle also noticed a couple sheep high on the ridge and pointed them out to me. The smaller one was on the move slowly picking its way down the hill. I had two challenges: finding its crossing spot and a setting up at a safe location along the road. I overshot the crossing on the my first attempt to find a pullout and missed action at the top. Quickly turning around to  another pullout I pulled the long lens out but it was too big and I couldn't find the sheep as it made its way down the mountainside. I had to quickly change to the 100-400 but there wasn't time to exchange lenses on the C100! Finally I rested the shorter lens and 7D on the tripod platform and started shooting. Only the first clip is with the longer lens.

Technical: Footage was slowed to half normal speed during the jump and shake. To see some incredible slow motion of animals shaking water off watch this: Slow Motion Shake

The value of shooting locally

I went to Yellowstone to get some head butting rams and this is the best I got, not very exciting. If you want to see some real action check out made by a local photographer:  Peter Murray  I look at his fantastic images and think, "One week later and they could have been mine."The trip was a great break and I'll try again next year. In the meantime there is a lot of video to edit and now that snow is on the ground winter is calling me outdoors.

Ram in the snow

I took a couple variations of this ram thanks to the 100-400 mm lens.  The steep hills of Gardiner Canyon fit with the myth that sheep live in a remote, rugged wilderness. However, this was photographed from a pull out along the road.

Soaking up the sun

While the adults were busy eating, chasing, and being chased this lamb decided to enjoy the warm morning sun.  I'm back in Montana when I see this image. Lots more sheep to come over the next couple weeks.

Love is in the air

The big horn sheep rut is in full swing with rams competing for ewes. This shot seems more tasteful than the up close sniffing from behind that happens regularly. 

The Chase

I'm headed to Yellowstone for another attempt at recording big horn rams fighting for dominance. I went during the first week of December last year and the dominant ram had been selected so this rut behavior was the recorded. Hoping for better timing this week.

The Chase

A short movie of my recent Montana trip.  The beauty (agony) of video is time compression.  Five days of observation is distilled to less than a minute of video.  Everyone has seen the rams knocking heads, this is what happens to the winner.  He gets to run around for days on end waiting for the ewe to be ready for mating.

The Chase

The Next Generation

Continuing the Yellowstone theme despite the great opportunities in the snow yesterday. This youngster was curious and frequently feeding almost at my feet.  Most of the  herd was feeding for winter while the ram was burning energy chasing unwilling ewes.

Lip Curling

Another name for this behavior is flemen.  Think of it as savoring a fine wine except in this case it's ewe urine.

Say Cheese

Ruminants chewing can produce some interesting facial expressions.  This ram posed for about half an hour before we left it and climbed the hillside looking for another subject.

Big Sky Country

The big horn sheep are very busy at keeping the species going, more images later.  This resting ram was soaking up the sun and enjoying the view.

Big Horn Quest

I'm on my way to Yellowstone to watch big horn sheep and perhaps get some good head banging shots.  We were there the third week in November during 2011 which was too early for serious competition.