Things have been a little slow in Yellowstone for the past several days. No new snow to speak of, mild temperatures and a lot of people visiting, particularly photographers that like to come for the month of February. And, so we are all wandering around, looking for something to photograph.
The wolves have been low profile, though, since I am at home and hard at work today, the probably all came out to the road to say hello.
Yesterday, I was at the Confluence watching a ram on the hill when I looked out across the valley and saw three creatures making a journey in deep snow. It was clear that they were not coyotes, by the way they moved, and they looked too small to be elk. But, they were far off and it was hard to say.
I got my binoculars and saw that three big horns were making their way in our direction. This was dramatic as we seldom see the big horns off of the cliffs and hillsides, making their way through the winter landscape that is surrounded by rivers and creeks.
And so we watched them come towards us, knowing that they would want to get on the hill behind us. But, we did not know if they would swim or jump to cross the water.
As they came closer they looked at us with curiosity. We were not their kind and we stood between them and where they wanted to be.
As they passed by us, all up on the road, they picked up their pace for a second.
I was particularly fond of the lamb – just the cutest thing I had seen all day.
They passed by and went to a narrow creek opening and we found out that they would jump the water.
And then they stood for awhile, trying to decide what to do next.
Then they proceeded down along Soda Butte Creek and I assumed that they were going for an area where the water was narrow.
About that time two car loads of photography students stopped in the road, grabbed their camera equipment and began running to catch up. The increased activity startled the sheep.
The sheep stopped and they looked at all of us. Bewilderment was all I could think. I looked at Marc and Lorenza and said I am done, they are feeling trapped. Marc took his camera off of the tripod and I put mine on my shoulders. About that time the sheep turned to run back the other way and so I put my camera back down to capture them running in the snow.
They went back down to where they had crossed the narrow water and stood to look at their options.
I went slowly in that direction, making sure that they had plenty of room, which they did. When some of the others decided to try and chase the sheep we asked them to give them space and everyone cooperated. No one wanted to hurt the animals. The sheep finally realized that they were safe and no one was going to approach them and so with big leaps they jumped the creek and headed for the road.
I wanted to clap when the sheep made it across the road safely and were able to start up their hill. We thanked everyone profusely for cooperating and being so kind to the sheep. It was a grand moment in Yellowstone.
There really wasn’t much else going on in the park and so I began heading towards home. Only, sleepiness overtook me and I stopped to nap for two hours. A 1.5 hour journey home took about 4 hours by the time I arrived. Not another photo taken as the light was gray and dull.
I was told that today was supposed to be stormy in the park but here in Gardiner there is some clouds and some blue skies. The birds are flying past and I hear them singing. Could spring already be on its way? I am hoping for more snow – we need it for the earth and the wildlife.
That precious lamb. Just want to watch him all day. Awesome. So love.
Just love them. I had a similar run in deep snow this AM. Great workout. I bet they were more sure-footed than I!
Great and enjoyable account of the day not to mention beautiful photography!
Great pics Deby! Love that lamb too.
Thanks Ron! Good to see you. Any advice on how to change my profile pic?
Hmm. I will see how I set mine and post in a few.
Hi Deby – I have no idea how I did that. I tried to create a profile and see if it was there when I first joined but I would have to enter a new credit card. It must have been an option to do since I didn’t link facebook or linkedIn at that time. There might be a setting in the admin panel that allows user to modify there pic and that might be shut off disabled right now. If you email me the package used to host this maybe I can find it in the support docs and send you a note back. I would bet it is a setting that right now is only available at joining until you change that in the admin section of the controls. You could also hunt around and see if you find that somewhere. Happy to help if I can. See you soon, Ron
I think this is the blog function or wordpress, check the admin settings for Avatar..
+++ – found this in the support notes…
Both options “Serve Avatar as Fallback” and “Override Avatar with User Photo” require that the ‘Avatar Display’ setting under Discussion be set to “Show”.
Uploaded images may be moderated by administrators via the “Edit User” page.
Good to hear that everyone respected the animals…too bad they had to turn back in the first place. Thank you for always watching out for them and sharing your stories and photos.
Great story and photos Deby. I love the look on the young one’s face, watching them run through the snow, and that people gave them a chance to cross the road. Thank you!
Great story Deby and I love your photographs. The eyes of the big horns have always been a big attention getter for me. They remind me or cat eye marbles. Keep up the good work.
So it seems to me that Yellowstone needs to allow you to direct traffic at spots where people are confining the natural events…maybe one of those Washdot signs that say STOP on one side on a red background, and SLOW on the other side in orange-yellow.
Dianna, I have had my life threatened from trying to protect animals while they were trying to cross the road, by photographers who will do anything to get a shot. That was why this event was so nice. My friend told me I was a street Nazi – one woman did try to ignore my request to stay back but when she turned and saw all of her friends respecting the animals, she changed her mind.
What a nice story Deby…I love photo # 5 with the baby peeking out behind so adorable!…I love their coloring with the snow…always nice to read when people give respect to the animals and their safety…Thank you…enjoy your day today!
Thank you Anita. That baby sure captured my heart!
Wonderful pictures to go with the story. Beautiful shots!!!
Thank you Janet.
Love that the people gave way to the sheep. Thank you for always being there for the animals. <3
This is the way I love to start my day. Your photos and your stories <3 take care out there Deby<3
Thank you Jenni! I loved their reaction too – it worked out well and made me smile and appreciate other humans.