This was a favorite memory of our trip to Badlands National Park. Sheryl and I had seen this herd of Big Horn Sheep grazing along the road in the Sage Creek Wilderness Area and were surprised how well they tolerated the presence of people. This is a sparsely traveled dirt road. We had stopped a distance away from the herd as they moved up the road toward our vehicle. The road is ideal for Big Horn travel - it is close enough to the Badlands cliffs to offer an escape route while offering rich grasslands for grazing.

As the herd approached, we photographed the sheep. One ewe approached the driver side of our car, looked straight at us, then kicked at the dirt and laid down next to the car. Others followed and we soon realized that they were overjoyed by the shade that our SUV provided. This particular ram had been watching over the herd from the south and began to aggressively approach us. He eventually nudged the ewe out of the way to take his place in the shade.

We stayed 10 minutes or so, but a few cars had backed up in each direction and while people enjoyed the scene, it was time to move on. As we pulled away, the sheep stayed in the road as the vehicle behind us pulled forward to take our place...

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5/5.6L IS @ 400mm with Canon 1.4X Teleconverter III - effective focal length - 560mm, 1/500 sec @f/8, ISO equiv 200, Handheld - image stabilized