Dall Sheep, South of Anchorage AK

Scott_Quier

I'm on vacation to Eagle River, AK - visiting my brother and his family. We took a trip to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Portage, AK. On the way back to Eagle River along the Seward Highway, we were stopped by a large congregation of cars - tourists looking at some Dall Sheep that had come down out of the cliffs along the highway. The event was so rare it made the local paper. My brother has been living in the area for some seven or eight years and they have never seen a similar event.

Here are a few of the shots I took of the event (with appropriate captions)

Dall Sheep shot near the Windy Corner along the Seward Highway. This guy came down to the edge of the highway (you can see the edge of the highway in the lower left corner of the photo. Of course, all the tourist tried to see how close they could get to the animal before they scared it away. It was amazing, some of them got within about 6 ft before the animal got skittish.


This is, we think, a female and was seriously nervous. It never did come down off the hillside.


This is the same animal as seen in the first shot, above, and only a few minutes later. These guys sure can climb!


Same one, again.


Just a few minutes later, the above animal had, we thought, left the scene so I was in the process of packing up. I looked up and lo, I saw this. This is a group of four sheep, waiting for the small one to arrive and join them. The one on the left is the same animal that was down on the road just a moment before. You can not imagine how quickly I had my equipment back together to capture this...

Harryb

Excellent shots Scott. The 3rd and the 4th are my faves with that outstanding background in the shots. Great comp on the shots too.

DavidTO

#3!!!

Ric Grupe

They sure are a untidy looking bunch!

When they get their winter coats, they will be more pleasing to the eye. Nice the you were able to have this experience and get some shots!

This one was my pick.

ian408

#3!!

Scott_Quier

Thanks all for looking and the nice comments. I agree, #3 is the best of the lot.

Harry, I have you to "blame" for the composition. Ever since you made your recommendation for those videos, my photos have been created with composition in mind. The upshot of that is that I have been getting a much better hit ratio. The last two of this series is an example. So - it's all your "fault" - Thanks!

Frog Lady

I have to agree w/ the majority - #3 is just great. Love how the background colors add to the richness of the scene. But the rest are pretty cool too. Way to take advantage of a rare opportunity! And I'm glad you got those videos:D

C.

saurora

Those are really sharp, Scott! What a neat experience and you got some really great shots! What lens were you using? I like #3 the best, but they are all terrific. Some of your best work yet, I think!

System

great scott!--


er, great, scott!-

george

dkoyanagi

That's pretty cool. #3 is great.

Scott_Quier

saurora wrote:

Those are really sharp, Scott! What a neat experience and you got some really great shots! What lens were you using? I like #3 the best, but they are all terrific. Some of your best work yet, I think!

Thanks for the kind words. I was really happy with the performance of the lens; these were all taken with the Sigma 80-400. That is until I had a chance to compare that lens with my brother's 100-400L!

gefillmore wrote:

great scott!--


er, great, scott!-

george

George, you are soooo funny! I've never heard that one before! thanks for looking - I appreciate the comments.