I’ve been busy going through the rest of my Montana/Colorado trip images and now have a few more to share. In this post, I’ll share a few more Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus) images I captured along the Mount Evans Highway in Colorado. One of the items on my “shot list” (i.e., “to do” list) was to capture some of the goats on the edge of the mountain cliffs, with the sky in the background. Near the end of the trip, I had some excellent conditions: blue skies, a few puffy cumulus clouds, and some very cooperative goats! Here are a few of my favorite images:
The goats always seem to be most content when they’re on the cliffs. In this instance, the goats had been on my level for a while and I had been photographing them, often at point-blank range, as they are quite used to people and, unless one makes a sudden move or “chases” them, they will often come right up to you. But when a young man with 3 kids pulled up, things quickly changed. The dad began approaching the goats and the goats sensed it was time to move to higher ground. Good thing as the dad began climbing the rocks to get even closer. Unfortunately, this caused the goats to climb over the rocky edge and move to more inaccessible areas. The lesson here is so common with wildlife … it’s always best not to approach the wildlife too quickly, or too closely. If the animals sense no danger, they will often make the move to get closer to you. I always try to adhere to this philosophy, and it usually works!