Visiting with the neighbors

The bighorn sheep neighbors that is - They live in the hills around us. We see them often.

John's been working on a big horn sheep sculpture, so we wanted to 'visit with them'. It's good to watch them for a bit to spark ideas - their movements, their proportions - let all that sink in, and really look at them. Luckily, they obliged.

We hiked up to their terrain and 'hung with the sheep' for a bit. Interesting to just sit and watch...

Females or 'ewes' (back) with a 'lamb' in the front

Males or 'rams' - (left)

The lambs follow their mothers for the first year to learn home range and behavior....

As a painter, I look for interesting light on the sheep. Here are a couple photos that caught my eye. I like the 'blue cast' that their white rump takes on in the shadows....

And here, look at the back lighting on the ears set against the shadow - THAT could be fun to paint!...

 

Love how her eye is lit up in this photo....

 

Their rut is just about to begin....November/December. The rams will be "butting heads" (literally!) anytime now. And as winter sets in, we'll see them more often as they come down to the lower elevations.

There are some awesome rams around here with full curls that we didn't come across on this hike. We'll keep our eyes out as rut begins - and hopefully get more photos to post!