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Bighorn Sheep Count 2011

dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622 7/10/2011	dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622 This was my first year participating in the Bighorn Sheep count for the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. We were required to attend a half day orientation on learning about Bighorn and how to distinguish sex and age. It was very helpful but for a first time counter I had a hard time determining all of those different factors quickly while watching the sheep graze and disappear down into the watering hole areas. My counting partner and I counted a total of 18 unique sheep over the three day event. Mostly it was one large herd that showed up every day. We were about 800-1000' up on a ridge so observing and counting them was difficult without high powered optics. My camera was limited in power so most of the below images are cropped heavily to zoom in. All of the pictures from the trip are http://www.darensefcik.com/Photography/Anza-Borrego-Desert-State-Park/Bighorn-Sheep-Count-2011/17979989_KMNvQj You can read the full Trip Report on my blog http://www.sefcik.com/2011/07/bighorn-sheep-count-2011-abdsp.html Here are a few pictures from the trip. I spent three nights at Culp Valley and one night at Blair Valley. A Ram, a yearling and an Ewe it looks like. There is actually a forth sheep behind the Ram Blue or Black collar sheep in the middle on this photo Seven sheep, one big Ram and the red collar again An older Ram and possible a younger Ram pop up out of nowhere at the west end of the canyon around 12pm on the second day Polaris Star Trails in Culp Valley Ursa Makor - AKA, The Big Dipper hung low in the night sky at 1am One of two Fawns in Shelter Valley This little Antelope Squirrel was eating the fruit from a cactus ball, amazing how he handles the cactus and the thorns! Banded Rock Lizard in Blair Valley Moonset in Blair Valley at 9:20pm July 3rd. This was a 30 sec exposure at ISO 1600 Daren -- http://www.sefcik.com http://www.darensefcik.com http://www.carrizogorge.com
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hikerdmb Posts: 423 7/13/2011	hikerdmb Posts: 423 Great job Daren. I really like the last photo of the moon setting. That looks like some long days plus trying to keep all the sheep you counted from being counted again. A spotting scope would have been nice to have. David
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