The rut is on… well matched bighorn rams that are suspended in air about to clobber each other. The jolting “crack” of their horns / heads / massive bodies meeting reverberates off the sounding rock, and you can almost feel the explosion of power in your bones. The battle starts with circling, stiff-legged forward kicking (often aimed at private parts), locking a horn over the back of the other, more circling and kicking, then they back off a bit and gather momentum for this ramming charge. There are bighorns in other parts of the intermountain west, but these on the high mesa east of Zion National Park are in such stunning country. Canon 7D, ISO400, f13, 1/640, 400mm, tripod, near Springdale, Utah, USA. Views 321 and Favorites 16 as of 11 January 2012, thanks for stopping by!

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