Monday, March 26, 2012

Mountain Goats

Mountain goats are often seen in the Snake River Canyon near Alpine, Wyoming.  It isn't unusual to see a few fairly close to the road in winter, but when we were there, they were a long way up the mountain.
Several members of our Sharp Shooters Camera Club have taken beautiful close-up photos of these interesting animals, but I wasn't so lucky.  However, I was extremely fortunate to see a huge herd of over 75 goats grazing their way across the mountain.  The snow had just about melted, so I suppose they were taking advantage of the bare ground to find food.

The herd was scattered over a wide area and was gone in about a half hour.  This huge herd was probably a nursery group of nannies (females) and kids.  The billies (males) usually form much smaller groups and keep to themselves.  These photos show just a small part of the widely scattered herd.  As the weather warms up they will head for higher elevations and won't be seen again until next winter.