Mountain goats

[seasonoftowers]

Saw them on some rocky formations last time I was on a hike. They let you get really close as long as you're on a different rocky formation from them, which is why I could take this pic with a 300mm lens.

Click for full size

Comments

[leecetheartist]

Wow!

[seasonoftowers]

Well, by "really close" I mean "20-30 meters away" but that's still super close as far as wild animals go. I only had to crop this photo to change orientation to portrait, since I wasn't thinking about composition (or breathing much) as I took the shot

[leecetheartist]

It's amazingly close, and they seem so unconcerned!

[seasonoftowers]

Seem. They stared at me for 10 minutes straight before deciding I'm not a threat

[minoanmiss]

I am amazed at them in their glory and also at you for getting up there!

[seasonoftowers]

Heh, my rocky formation had a trail on it, so it was a far less tricky climb than theirs

[shirebound]

Nice! I suspect that they can be hard to spot.

[seasonoftowers]

You do have to be quiet and pay attention, but they're surprisingly easy to spot when they're standing in craggy areas during the day. Nothing except goat and the occasional mountaineer gets there (and I do mean mountaineer, not hikers like me), and they're a protected species so not shot at, so they don't always hide. At night they come down in the flatter portions of the mountain - I've sometimes found fresh goat poo 5m away from my tent

[turlough]

What a fabulous photo! They look quite curious.

[seasonoftowers]

I feel the top one's bugged out slightly

[cyprinella]

That's awesome! Where were you at?

[seasonoftowers]

Ceahlau mountains, in northeastern Romania

Wonderful shot

[jesse_the_k]

...and they are so clearly the model for the Devil in Western iconography.

Re: Wonderful shot

[seasonoftowers]

Yes, if they don't quirk up their ears they have such perfect inverted pentagram faces!