A trip to Hennefer

I left early this morning to go photograph the Sage Grouse again. Even though the skies were blue and clear, there was a layer of either really thick fog or a really skinny, stagnant clouds.  I could see the sky occasionally, but the grouse were almost invisible in the pea soup. I chose to drive down the road and out of the cloud in search of interesting things.  No grouse, but I did find about 75 wild turkeys out in a field.

The Toms were out doing their "luv strut".  They look remarkably like the grouse, getting all puffy and fanning their tales.

They also look remarkably like human males.  Notice that no matter how much they do to get some interest, the women all look the other way and appear completely disinterested.

I did a drive-by on a heron rookery.  I wish I could figure out how to get closer to them, but I am held at bay by a lot of fences, private land, and a swift flowing river.700mm worth of lens/teleconverter will have to do for now.

All the farm animals are out and about now that the weather is feeling like spring. I stopped at a field of sheep and they immediately wandered over.  Figuring they were friendly, I let Jasper out of the car.

He has made friends with llamas, mini-donkeys, horses, mules, a zebra and now sheep.  They went nose-to-nose for a while and eventually sniffed each others butt.  I think that was kind of the sheep to offer a "dog greeting".

This poor ewe had two things going against her.  First, she had just been sheared and a bare naked sheep is pretty damn ugly, probably even to other sheep.  Second, every step she took, she tripped over at least one of the thirsty little lambs that were following her around. In comparison, even without much wool, the lambs were very cute. The look like gangly, bouncy puppies.

On the way back into Park City, I stopped to see if the little Potguts (Uinta Ground Squirrels) were venturing out of their holes.  They weren't very active yet, but Jasper pointed out a few.

This one asked to have a portrait done.  I just need to figure out how to get it to him.

So, no new sage grouse, but Jasper and I had an interesting morning anyway.