MORNINGS ON THE “AMERICAN SERENGETI”
For three consecutive mornings, after waking before dawn, cooking up some oatmeal and toasted bagels, and warming our fingers over the car defroster, Ryan and I hiked a half mile (3/4 mile?) in to a valley that was teeming with wildlife. Hundreds of Elk, dozens of Bison, Pronghorn, and Mule Deer grazed the nearly nonexistent grass, moving slowly but surely across the floor of the valley. Despite “bear activity” signs, we felt very safe as we could see for miles in almost all directions.
Here (thanks to a tip from a wildlife photographer friend) we found a “bachelor herd” of Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis).
In our many previous trips, we’d mainly seen bands of Bighorn ewes and lambs scrambling on the very vertical hillsides along the road from Gardiner, MT to Mammoth in the park. A few times we’d seen smaller rams come down to the river to drink, but never a big bachelor herd. But in this Valley of the American Serengeti (our name) we found a couple dozen “big boys” and another dozen young rams. You see Bighorn males and females only intermingle during the late November rut and mating season. After that, they go their own ways. Young males will join the bachelor herd after a year with mom.
The Patriarch
Though Bighorns don’t have a single band leader, they do seem to jostle a bit for social status, at least it seemed like that to us. This scarred full-curl ram seemed to be the oldest and the ram with the largest horns. His short muzzle had what appeared to be a scar all the way across the bridge. You can age a ram by its horns due to “growth rings” but I’m not experienced enough to attempt it. Their horns can weigh up to 30 pounds! Rams can live 9-12 years.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f6.3 at 1/1000 second; ISO 200; tripod]

Still Life with Bachelors
“Bachelors” is perhaps a misnomer as many of the older healthier rams may mate in the fall, but the all-male bands are called “bachelor herds.” I love the painterly feel to this image…Lots going on in this single frame. Note the young ram leaping over a laying ram. I muted the colors in Aperture.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f5.6 at 1/1250 second; ISO 400; +0.33ev;  tripod]

Two become One
Just a “haccident” (happy accident) when the two rams lined up to form “one head.” Blur your eyes a bit and …Bizarre.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f7.1 at 1/1000 second; ISO 320; tripod]

Resting Rams
Bighorns chew their cud. Note the patriarch in the upper right hand corner.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f10 at 1/250 second; ISO 400; +0.33ev; tripod]

[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f8 at 1/200 second; ISO 400; tripod]

[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f7.1 at 1/500 second; ISO 200; tripod]

Blue Bighorn Silhouette
A so-so shot that gets a bit of creative life by reducing the exposure by a few stops and altering the white balance.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 100mm; f8 at 1/125 second; ISO 100; tripod]

Monarch of the Mountains
Head on portrait of a full-curl ram. These boys not only tolerated us (can’t get closer than 25 yards due to Yellowstone’s rules (and common sense) but seemed to go about their business as if we weren’t even there. This is one of the real treats of Yellowstone; you get to witness the everyday lives of animals.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f9 at 1/160 second; ISO 400; tripod]

[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 330mm; f9 at 1/200 second; ISO 400; tripod]

[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 148mm; f5 at 1/640 second; ISO 400; +0.33ev; tripod]

Peek on the Peak
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f5.6 at 1/2000 second; ISO 160; -0.67ev; tripod]

Not sure if I like this image as a black and white or color version yet.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 148mm; f5 at 1/640 second; ISO 400; +0.33ev; tripod]

Still plenty of snow in the high country of Yellowstone in mid April. These Bighorns are extremely sure-footed and are at home in steep country. One of their main predators is the Mountain Lion, which is also at home in rugged terrain.
[Canon 7D with Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS II USM lens at 400mm; f5.6 at 1/2500 second; ISO 160; -0.67ev; tripod]

Part 3 of a look back at our Scandinavian honeymoon from 2006:

I think the Insight Guide to Iceland put it quite well, “Visitors are often unsure whether Reykjavik is a scaled-down city or a scaled-up village.” At 112,000 residents it is about the size of Duluth-Superior…And most of its growth has been since WWII. It was only a town of 5,000 folks in 1901. Reykjavik is the world’s northernmost capital at 64 degrees North. Strolling through the old city centre is a charming look at Icelandic culture. One thing I noticed right away is that many of the brightly-colored houses were sided with corrugated metal! One amazing fact is that the entire city is heated with geothermal heat…No fossil fuels used to heat a northern city!

We know the explorer pictured above as Leif Erickson, but in Iceland he is known as Leifur Eriksson, and he is a national hero. Son of the Viking Erik the Red (who discovered Greenland), Leifur also became an explorer and (as all Scandinavians know) “discovered” America centuries before Columbus. This reminds me of my favorite bumper sticker…“Proud to Live in America…A Norwegian Colony since 1004 AD.”

[Photo Note:] All photos in this post are “HDR” images. High Dynamic Range images are created in software programs (I use Photomatix), usually from 3 or more images exposed for different parts of the scene. This technique is especially useful in scenes where it is impossible for the camera to capture the entire range of exposure. Examples would be a shadowed landscape with a bright sky. The software averages out the exposures in the highlights and shadows so all areas are middle range. It is a unique look and not everyone likes it. I must admit that I do like the surreal effect.

Jon Gunnar Arnason’s striking sculpture Solfar (Sun-Craft, 1986) sits along the oceanfront in Reykjavik.

Sheep, sheep, everywhere. I’m sure it’s true that, like New Zealand, there are more sheep inhabiting this island than humans. And crazy cool sheep. They say that every single sheep on Iceland is descended from Viking stock. And there are no fences! …hence this road sign not far from Reykjavík.
Every autumn, farmers go on horseback with their Icelandic sheep dogs to round up their flocks. The flocks are driven into huge wheel-shaped corrals with the “spokes of the wheel” defining the pens. Every farm has its own mark cut into their sheep’s ears and this is how they sort them into the correct pens. Icelandic wool is still big business in Iceland.