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August 27, 2008

Close Encounter With Bighorn

What is it with us and wildlife encounters? Here's another lesson in what NOT to do...

So, we're in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies, along a major highway. This was our third sighting of a herd of bighorn for the evening and by the time we spotted them, there were way too many people clustered around them.

We parked our open-topped miata a ways down the road in order to avoid boxing the herd in and bothering them. No one else seemed to care that the bighorn is very easily bothered by close proximity to people.

Further, we cut the car engine and set up to take a few pictures. We have nice, long lenses, we don't need to get close. Apparantly, we are non-threatening, because about 10 bighorn proceeded to trot right down the road and surround our convertible.

We were way too close.
They were way too close.

In a very short time, we were on display, and cars were surrounding US, too.

We didn't want to startle the bighorn herd by starting the car, so we stayed still and talked quietly.

They didn't leave. In fact, the big ram came right up to my passenger side window and I had to keep the camera in front of me to avoid being nibbled on. Meanwhile, this lesser bighorn went behind the car and started licking it, likely because of the salty roads.

It was an odd encounter. We were not comfortable. We were not planning on such close proximity.

Eventually, the bighorn got bored with us and moved away, but then some foolish people scared them back to us. They had us basically surrounded. Finally, they moved off to the side and we started the car and carefully moved on.

All this time, unobservant people flew by on the 2-lane highway at high speed, just inches from these endangered animals.

Posted by sorsha at 12:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 17, 2008

Roadtrip Report: Herd of Endangered Bighorn Sheep

Hello, all!

I'm just back from a roadtrip up the Pacific Coast, through California, Oregon, Washington and across the Trans-Canadian highway!

Along the way, we got to see some amazing wildlife which I plan to tell you about soon. Some of the highlights included:

• A Raft of Sea Otters in Monterey Bay, California
  
• A Colony of Harbor Seals in Shelter Cove, California
  
• Lots of roadside Ravens in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia, Canada
  
• Three herds of Bighorn Sheep and some elk in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada
  
• A lonely Bison in Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada
  
• Prairie Dogs and huge amounts of ducks in Saskatchewan, Canada
  
• Two white-tailed deer fawns in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, Canada
  
• Pair of courting Sandhill Cranes along the Great Lakes in Ontario, Canada
  
• Canadian Geese in Quebec, Canada
  
• A Woodchuck & a White-tailed Deer fawn in Northern Vermont
  
• A Black Bear in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire

I am getting settled in and hope to write about my Canadian roadtrip in the coming weeks.

Posted by sorsha at 2:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 15, 2008

From Gold Country To The Granite State

Hello, all!

I'm just back from a summer roadtrip from sunny California (Monterey and San Francisco) up through Oregon and Washington and then across the Trans-Canadian Highway to New Hampshire.

Along the way, we got to see some amazing wildlife which I plan to tell you about soon. Some of the highlights included:

• A Raft of Sea Otters in Monterey Bay, California
• A Colony of Harbor Seals in Shelter Cove, California
• Lots of roadside Ravens in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia, Canada
• Three herds of Bighorn Sheep and some elk in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada
• A lonely Bison in Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada
• Prairie Dogs and huge amounts of ducks in Saskatchewan, Canada
• Two white-tailed deer fawns in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, Canada
• Pair of courting Sandhill Cranes along the Great Lakes in Ontario, Canada
• Canadian Geese in Quebec, Canada
• A Woodchuck & a White-tailed Deer fawn in Northern Vermont
• A Black Bear in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire

I am getting settled in and hope to write about my trip in the coming weeks.

Posted by sorsha at 3:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack