Unusual visitor in Prince William Sound

NorthernFocus

This past weekend, we made our first trip of the season Prince William Sound. About 4am Saturday, I noticed some sort of white four legged critter on the rocky beach nearby. Binoculars revealed it to be a mountain goat. And if that wasn't odd enough, it was feeding on the seaweed that had been uncovered by the low tide. These guys are known for staying at pretty high elevations and on pretty steep terrain to avoid predators. Shocked as I was, I managed to climb in the dingy with my camera and get close enough for a few photos. Mountain goats have great eyesight and are usually very cautious. But apparently he didn't recognize me as a threat on the water and I was able to get pretty darn close without bothering him a bit. We've seen all sorts of creatures out on the sound but this was definatley unique.
Mind it was in the half-light between 4 and 5 am so the images required significant PP lightening.
All shot handheld from an inflatable boat with Nikon D200, Nikkor 80-400 VR lens.
First shot approaching in the dingy. Note waterfowl in the OOF foreground.
EXIF: 1/100s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso800

In this shot you can clearly see he's eating the seaweed (the yellow stuff is seaweed, not flowers).
EXIF: 1/100s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso800

Finally, well, he posed real nice.
EXIF: 1/125s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso500

Herc

Nice shots. Usually you have to get up in the mountains to see these guys. You got to do it from a boat.

Is it common for them to come down to the shore like that? I've often seen bear eating mussels and other things when the tide is out. Never considered goats would do that too.

Cheers, Shayne

dbaker1221

wow that's pretty cool

PrescottPhotog

articblooms wrote:

This past weekend, we made our first trip of the season Prince William Sound. About 4am Saturday, I noticed some sort of white four legged critter on the rocky beach nearby. Binoculars revealed it to be a mountain goat.

- Way cool. It's nice to be in the right place at the right time. I've only seen one MG when I lived in Colorado up near Leadville, it walked right in front of my car as we were going over the pass.. no camera handy.

Maestro

That is unusual! How fortunate for you to be there and good work getting the shot!

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments from everyone.

Since seeing this guy I've done a little research on the web etc. and haven't found any specific reference to this type of behavior. I did find references stating that MGs inhabit lower elevation during periods of heavy snowpack and are often seen at lower elevation in steep coastal terrain. Also found reference to their affinity to salt licks. This generally adds up. The area where these shots were taken is surrounded by very steep, rocky slopes which at this time were still under several feet of snow. He was also eating fresh green shoots of sedge grass which was in plenty above the tideline so presumably was nibbling the seaweed for the salt content rather than as his staple diet.

Whatever the case may be, it was a pretty cool surprise to wake up to.

Ric Grupe

Looks like a good sized one.

Glad he didn't take off one you!

Interesting post.

Dogdots

Amazing....just shows us we never know what animals will do

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments. Animals are definately unpredictable.