by Judy Lehmberg, BioPics Photography, www.vernelehmberg.com
As you already know it is the time of year animals have their babies. I love this time of year and was reminded it wouldn’t last forever when I saw a couple of fledgling robins following their parents begging for food. Yesterday evening I was driving home from Trout Lake when I saw a bunch of cars stopped along the Gardner River, less than a mile from the north entrance to the park. I figured it had to be big horns and since the light was nice I stopped.
One of the more amazing group of babies is big horn sheep lambs. They are born in a vertical world and they better learn to live in it quickly or they won’t survive. I have watched the babies jump over gullies and gaps in the rock that make me want to yell “Don’t do That!” But they don’t listen to me and frankly they don’t need to. I watched a group of babies the other day playing together. The game was evidently lets jump over this gully and then turn around and do it again. It looked a little like popcorn popping except sideways. They were truly are amazing.
Big horns can be found along the Gardner River on the north side of Yellowstone. It is very dry and cliffy there and I don’t know of any other animal that can not only survive but thrive there. In the evenings they sometimes come down to the river for a drink and cause traffic jams. I don’t know if they have to drink every day but I do know that not all of them come down to the water.
In the early 1980s the big horn population on the north end of the park was at about 500 animals. Then there was an epidemic of conjunctivitis or pink eye. Pink eye is not a deadly disease but it does cause temporary loss of sight which is lethal to animals who live on cliffs. About 60% of the big horns died. They haven’t completely recovered from that, and a really tough winter in 1996-1997, but there numbers are much higher now.
Great shots and I’ll bet they were so much fun to watch. I keep missing them.