Back to album

"I think he wants something"

As luck would have it, when we were driving down the road away from the Paradise parking lot at Mt. Rainier, a red fox dashed across the road about 40 feet in front of us. I immediately came to a stop and grabbed my camera out of the center console and told Hilary I was going to try to get a picture. Realizing I had my 50mm on, I grabbed the 85 (the longest I had with me) and began to switch them. As I was just getting the 85 ring into the mount on the camera, Hilary said "Uh, Jeff . . . I think he wants something . . look to your right . . . "

 

In somewhere around the 7-8 seconds it took me to slam on the brakes and unmount one lens, this guy had covered 40-odd feet of deep snow drifts and was staring at me from not more than 10 feet away. Really a reminder of what amazing wild creatures these are (and how dangerous the larger ones can be if they suspect that *you* are the food).

 

At the same time, pretty sad - because clearly he's been getting a lot of handouts from people . . . not a healthy thing for a wild animal to rely on (let alone the quality of the food they're probably being given). I acknowledge that what is now my best and luckiest series of wildlife shots is due to this practice, but I sure would rather have earned it.

3,721 views
65 faves
60 comments
Uploaded on January 12, 2011
Taken on January 9, 2011