White Buffalo Calves

Now here is something that you don't see everyday...
A storm was moving in and it was tough to get a good shot - when the weather breaks I am going to give it another go.

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Stupid question time here now.
Do they get darker as they age or will these stay this colour.
And I should have said I really like the shots you have posted here.

Not a stupid question - I asked the same thing and was told that it is the most commonly asked question. This is what I was told: "This rare condition is "leucism", which unlike "albinism" results in the white color without affecting the skin or eye color. White Bison are considered to be sacred to Native American religions and are often visited for prayer and other religious rituals".

magoosmc wrote in post #17905250
Not a stupid question - I asked the same thing and was told that it is the most commonly asked question. This is what I was told: "This rare condition is "leucism", which unlike "albinism" results in the white color without affecting the skin or eye color. White Bison are considered to be sacred to Native American religions and are often visited for prayer and other religious rituals".

Nice shots of a rare animal. They will stay this color. And I too have heard they were sacred and protected by Native Americans. I've only seen one and was unable to get close enough for a nice shot such as these. Watch those cows magoosmc, they can be mean and are super fast.

Wonderful shots. Rare enough to see one, let alone two in the same herd. Were these in Yellowstone?

philk54 wrote in post #17905454
Wonderful shots. Rare enough to see one, let alone two in the same herd. Were these in Yellowstone?

These are in western NY state, of all places. 10 minutes from my house on the road less traveled - I never knew that they were there. I went out to shoot some ice storm shots and stumbled upon a herd of 100 buffalo. I tracked down the owners and offered photos in return for access. It's quite a interesting place - river otters, beaver, eagles, foxes... The buffalo (I learned that they are actually bison) drive off all large predators which provides sort of a sanctuary for the smaller wildlife. They have both plains and wood bison. They had the DNA checked when they bought the original breeders to make sure they were pure stock. The owners are great people and showed me some duck blinds and deer stands that are good vantage points.

I have to work on my technique. They are very dark animals with little definition. I either blew out the highlights in the snow or over exposed the blacks on the animals.

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Very cool. Western NY isn't that far from me. And my parents still live in Binghamton, so maybe I could incorporate a side trip into one of my next visits.

philk54 wrote in post #17905643
Very cool. Western NY isn't that far from me. And my parents still live in Binghamton, so maybe I could incorporate a side trip into one of my next visits.

About an hour and change from Binghamton

magoosmc wrote in post #17905626
I have to work on my technique. They are very dark animals with little definition. I either blew out the highlights in the snow or over exposed the blacks on the animals.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Eh1i​FC All Seeing Eye by magoosmc, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Ejkp​Sp Snowing Near Buffalo by magoosmc, on Flickr

Shooting dark animals in the snow is a nightmare for reflective metering. I would urge you to get either a gray card or an incident handheld meter. That gets you close and then you can bracket from there a bit.

A wonderful experience and appreciate that you shared the images.

Way back in the early 1950s there was a mature white buffalo at a Reserve in Montana somewhere between Missoula and Poulsen, MT. My parents took us there to see them several times. The big white one tended to stand on a mound, just a bit higher up than all the others.

Very nice! Thanks for sharing! But now I have that Ted Nugent song "Great White Buffalo" stuck in my head.

magoosmc wrote in post #17905250
Not a stupid question - I asked the same thing and was told that it is the most commonly asked question. This is what I was told: "This rare condition is "leucism", which unlike "albinism" results in the white color without affecting the skin or eye color. White Bison are considered to be sacred to Native American religions and are often visited for prayer and other religious rituals".

Thanks so much for the info that you provided.
I really appreciated it. And thanks for saying it wasn't a stupid question.
If I ever get the chance to get to America I know I would love to see these in the wild.
Really think you have done a great job.

A couple more from this morning. The first one was shot with a Sony A6000 with an old Tamron 300mm f/2.8 MF lens.

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