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Buford Posts: 456
12/30/2019
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Headed out for two nights this past weekend for the desert snow. It had already been melting for a couple days so there was less than I hoped for, but still enough for some pretty scenery.
Tire tracks from the night before:
It was cold overnight:
I always like seeing cacti and snow, they seem out of place together:
Was not looking for sheep, but saw these guys on the side of the road again. Most of the same individual sheep, same place as a couple weeks ago:
I think he is sick of me taking pictures of him:
I climbed the hill opposite the sheep to try and get a better lineup with the Santa Rosa ridge line. I wanted the sheep to silhouette against the snow capped mountains. They would not cooperate and my traveling companion didn't want to wait all day for me to possibly get the picture so this was the best I got:
Other random pictures:
Drove to the other end of the park I was not looking for sheep, again, but saw them anyway. Here are three small sheep pixels on the far hillside:
All four, vanishing over the ridge before I could get any decent shots in the good evening light.
Sunrise and the same four sheep walked by camp in the morning.
It was amazing how scared the sheep were of the canyon bottom. The rams eyed the canyon bottom for a half hour before bolting across at full gallop. It happened too quick to get any pictures. I guess the shrubs were greener on the other side of the canyon.
Bashing in a barrel and eating it later:
The wildlife biologist tag sheep all over the park:
Multi tasking: tail up, pellets out, and eating:
I also saw sheep along I8 on the way home. Total for the trip was snow, cold and sheep from 3 different recovery regions.
As I go through the pictures I might post more.
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Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
12/30/2019
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Your sheep pictures are incredible !
Love the snow in the Desert pictures also.
We ended up driving up to Mount Laguna on Friday.
A lot of snow up there.
edited by surfponto on 12/30/2019
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/30/2019
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Fantastic pictures Buford! What camera/lens are you using.
It must have been a good weekend to see the snow. Wife and I did a short hike in Cuyamaca.
Bobcat. Followed these tracks most of the way up the trail.
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Buford Posts: 456
12/30/2019
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Good to see all the snow on Laguna and Cuyamaca.
I am using a Sony a6400 and Sigma 150-600C run through an MC-11 adapter for the pictures.
Here are a couple more, some just alternates of ones already posted. Editing and culling photos today. Some edited better than others:
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Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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+1
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
12/30/2019
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Buford, I think your posts are giving people the impression BHS aren't endangered anymore since they're everywhere! 
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Buford Posts: 456
12/30/2019
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I am starting to think the sheep are everywhere too even though they are endangered. Recently it seems like whenever I look at a hillside in the desert I find sheep. Most people drove, camped or walked by the sheep in all these pictures and never saw them or only saw them because I was sitting there with my camera and long lens. None of these are particularly remote places. I am pretty good at spotting wildlife a long way off.
Some more variations on those already posted:
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Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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rockhopper Posts: 668
1/1/2020
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Just fantastic photo work. I need to up my game. Cheers.
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Britain Posts: 602
1/1/2020
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Wow, some great captures in this thread!
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Cant drive 55
Britain
http://icorva.com
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Buford Posts: 456
1/1/2020
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I am glad some people are enjoying them.
Here are a couple more alternate takes of those already posted. Some times shooting a burst it is tough to pick a favorite. Probably the last set of pictures from the trip.
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Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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ziphius Posts: 911
1/2/2020
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Nice adventure and photos Buford. Those Sony mirroless systems are great, I own 2 different models. The phainopepla were perched above some desert mistletoe, their favorite food.
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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deborah Posts: 115
1/7/2020
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Great pictures Buford! The sheep that's "smiling" for the camera is particularly cute.
Any idea why the sheep would be hesitant of the canyon?
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davidwyby Posts: 46
1/8/2020
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Good stuff, thanks for sharing.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
1/10/2020
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You are accumulating a great collection of BHS photos, nice work!
I was out in Death Valley again and the Mojave area with all of the snow, it was just amazing, pictures soon.
I am glad you have the energy to take and process these great photos, I know how much work it is, everyone really enjoys them.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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Buford Posts: 456
1/10/2020
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deborah wrote:
Great pictures Buford! The sheep that's "smiling" for the camera is particularly cute.
Any idea why the sheep would be hesitant of the canyon?
The canyon bottom is not escape terrain. They are more comfortable on escape terrain.
From my amateur observations, different groups of sheep are more or less skittish than others. The BPC sheep are comfortable in the canyon bottom and around people. One in BPC forced myself and another sheep counter off the trail last year, it came within 8' of us on his terms. The Santa Rosa herd is afraid of their own shadows. Other groups are in between.
dsefcik wrote:
You are accumulating a great collection of BHS photos, nice work!
I was out in Death Valley again and the Mojave area with all of the snow, it was just amazing, pictures soon.
I am glad you have the energy to take and process these great photos, I know how much work it is, everyone really enjoys them.
Thanks. It is not as much work as lugging around a real film camera and developing physical film. I need to work on a consistent white balance for those that were taken together.
Can't wait to see Death Valley and Mojave snow pictures.
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Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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tekewin Posts: 368
1/11/2020
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Great camera work as always! The laughing sheep was hilarious.
A little speculation, but maybe canyon bottoms are where they are most vulnerable to cougars. That's usually a source of water and good hunting. Most of the deer and sheep bones I've found have been in a gully or canyon. The cougars I've caught on camera have always been in canyons, in forested ranges, too, not just the desert.
edited by tekewin on 1/11/2020
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Buford Posts: 456
1/11/2020
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tekewin wrote:
Great camera work as always! The laughing sheep was hilarious.
A little speculation, but maybe canyon bottoms are where they are most vulnerable to cougars. That's usually a source of water and good hunting. Most of the deer and sheep bones I've found have been in a gully or canyon. The cougars I've caught on camera have always been in canyons, in forested ranges, too, not just the desert.
edited by tekewin on 1/11/2020
That was exactly why they stay on escape terrain when possible.
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Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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deborah Posts: 115
1/13/2020
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That's so interesting about the sheep, particularly the different behavior of different groups.
Years ago I did a really fun scramble up to Indianhead Peak. It was kind of steep so I had my head down watching my footwork. Then I looked up and saw a sheep fairly close (probably not nearly as close I my memory is telling me). I was so thrilled to see one like that, but then I became aware that it wasn't at all timid. We both just stood motionless, watching each other. I heard something behind me and realized that I somehow got between a few of them. So I just quietly got off the route as best I could, and they went on by. It was an awesome and very humbling experience.
And I can see how an associated risk of the canyons can affect the sheep's behavior. Actually, I think I relate to it personally. It might sound strange, but I notice that different areas have a different "feel" to me. I do a lot of solo trips, sometimes running... It gets in my head sometimes.
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tekewin Posts: 368
1/14/2020
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deborah wrote:
And I can see how an associated risk of the canyons can affect the sheep's behavior. Actually, I think I relate to it personally. It might sound strange, but I notice that different areas have a different "feel" to me. I do a lot of solo trips, sometimes running... It gets in my head sometimes.
I've had feelings of a cougar being nearby twice in AB. Once in Cougar Canyon on the way back from Square Top. The other by Goat BM below San Ysidro. Near Goat BM, I also smelled cougar urine shortly after picking up a baby deer skull. A little freaky.
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deborah Posts: 115
1/15/2020
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tekewin wrote:
I've had feelings of a cougar being nearby twice in AB. Once in Cougar Canyon on the way back from Square Top. The other by Goat BM below San Ysidro. Near Goat BM, I also smelled cougar urine shortly after picking up a baby deer skull. A little freaky.
I can see how that would be a little freaky. I don't really know how much of it really is just in my head, but I know I think about it more around early dawn hours and dusk. And things like canyons versus open space. I've never seen one, but I know that doesn't mean that they haven't seen me.
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+1
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
1/16/2020
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During an overnight backpack last year with my wife to Bighorn/Nolina Canyon she woke me abruptly up in the middle of the night saying there was something sniffing the outside of our tent loudly. I said it was probably a field mouse, go back to sleep.. There were lots of fresh, large cat tracks the next morning and we were camping within a few hundred yards of the guzzler.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
1/18/2020
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tekewin wrote:
The cougars I've caught on camera have always been in canyons, in forested ranges, too, not just the desert. Cougars definitely will hang out up on ridges and at water sources, they will go where needed and they definitely have a presence in ABDSP where BHS and deer habitate.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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Scooter Posts: 114
1/18/2020
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dsefcik wrote:
tekewin wrote:
The cougars I've caught on camera have always been in canyons, in forested ranges, too, not just the desert. Cougars definitely will hang out up on ridges and at water sources, they will go where needed and they definitely have a presence in ABDSP where BHS and deer habitate.
Just came back from Mine Wash stopped by the Ocotillo Wells visitor center on my trip they had a current photo of a Mountain Lion by the off road rental places on highway 78. They are everywhere !!
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