There is magic in The Stone, there can be no doubt. Drive around a bit and you’ll see something remarkable around every corner.
Amongst the most popular, but less-seen of the Park fauna are the Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis). A majestic animal, proud, strong, and especially elusive. We know of only three locats in The Stone where Bighorns can reliably be observed.
Okay, right, not reliably – nothing whatsoever in The Stone is reliable – at best, sometimes, perhaps occasionally (if you are lucky…you have good Karma, right?) .
We found this beautiful creature on the west side of the Grand Loop road, just north of the Yellowstone picnic area, posing in a most fetching manner on a large-ish boulder. For reasons known only to herself, this ewe made a couple of determined steps and launched herself skyward. As if by magic.
We work hard at getting lucky.
Images in this entry were recorded using the Nikon D7100 and the AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR. 900mm effective (yeah, I’ll write more about this combination later). Exposures were f/8 and 1/1000s, ISO 400. I’ve previously claimed that f/8 was an aperture one-stop too small…I’m rethinking this.
Copyright 2013 Peter F. Flynn. No usage permitted without prior written consent. All rights reserved.
Tags: NE Entrance Road, Ovis canadensis, Yellowstone Picnic Area
Well capured, it is amazing how fast they can literally fly. Take your eye of the subject and you would have missed it.
Hi B,
Yeah, I noticed that ewe standing on the boulder and wondered, “How the hell did you get up on there?” Only one way up, only one way down. I did not expect such a spectacular descent, but was ready this time!
P.