Bighorn sheep spotted!

So, after hubby left in the morning, I decided to take a ride up highway 74.  I was bored and it was a beautiful, blistery, gusty day with clouds moving in from the west.  On days such as yesterday, I always enjoy taking a ride up Highway 74.  Unfortunately, hubby took my Canon with him to go take photos of our grandson's first t-ball game.  I was left with my backup Nikon, a D40x.  Now, I LOVE this camera for low light photos, but daylight...er...uh...no.  Plus, it has a 75-200 mm lens, and the Canon has a 75-300 lens.  That's a LOT of difference.  I'm actually thinking about selling it and hubby's D60 Nikon and getting a newer one and selling the two lenses and getting a longer one.  The refresh rate on the Nikon is just too slow for action shots.

Anyway, just a little bit up the mountain road, I saw a car which was in one of the turnouts and I pulled over to take some photos of the lupine which is now blooming up and down the highway.  Turns out, there was a bighorn sheep right off the side of the road, munching on some of the yellow blossoms of the brittle bush.  Cars were whizzing by and honestly, I don't think 99% of them even saw the bighorn!  Another car pulled in behind me, but THEY hadn't seen him until I told them!  (I must confess...I was concentrating on the lupine and I didn't see him at first either!)

So, I took out the Nikon, thinking that he would bolt down the mountainside any minute.  He didn't.  He was oblivious to the cars whizzing by and even to us.  We were about 50-75 feet away.  He just kept eating.  He FINALLY headed down the gully and I scrambled down a small trail to see if I could spot him.  Yup.  There he was, stopping to eat by an ocotillo.  I just sat down and watched and took photos.  Unfortunately, it was so gusty that I couldn't hold the camera still and most of my photos came out blurry.  ARGH!  What a waste.  Next time, I'll be sure and have my Canon with me!

Here are just a few of the photos.  I really only had these 5 come out without looking blurry, and I took about 20 photos!  It was REALLY windy and gusty up there.  The clouds were coming in from the west across the tops of the mountains.

 He is eating RIGHT BY THE EDGE OF THE HIGHWAY!  Cars went whizzing by and didn't even see him!

 He finally decided to head down a gully.

 I found a small trail and I was able to follow him (parallel to him)...not too close.

 Here he stopped to eat something by the ocotillo.

What are YOU looking at?  He finally headed further away and I could no longer see him.