An unlikely reunion
As I drove the Teller Highway in search of animals and adventure, I came across a small flock (7-10) of Willow ptarmigan on the side of the road. I captured a shot or two but didn’t even get out of the car as they are like back road chickens on the county roads of Southern Indiana…slow to get off the road and totally confused on which way to go.
As I started to proceed, they decided to cross right in front of me and then freeze in the middle of the road. Proceeding like a sheepdog pushing a herd of sheep, I drove forward at a much less than a walking speed to try and force a decision on one side of the road or the other.
What I assumed to be success became frustration as all but one crossed into the brush to the right and disappeared. The one, stayed in the middle of the road for another 15 feet or so then as if it made eye contact with Medusa, froze at full attention in place. Just as I started to honk the horn to get it moving again, the nose of a red fox began protruding from the roadside vegetation on the left side of the road maybe 20 yards ahead.
The fox entered the side of the road now fully exposed…my heart started racing as I maintained eye contact with the fox as it glanced at the ptarmigan, then me, then its prey again. I was reaching for camera gear without trying to move my head or torso…much like way back in high school trying to hide a beer once pulled over by the police! When a second, but much more cautious fox stepped out, the awareness of the undeserved blessing that I was being granted sent shivers up my spine.
As the poor ptarmigan stood frozen between a car/human and now two foxes, I captured this shot, one of my favorite wildlife shots obtained during the entire two weeks of searching the Alaskan wilderness. I took dozens of shots as the lead fox came closer and closer…wanting the ptarmigan so badly but being hesitant to get any closer to me. I began to wonder if this could possibly be the young kit that I sat with on my visit last year on the open tundra and talked to for 30 or so minutes? I was probably within a mile or two of the little guy’s den, but didn’t know if there were four or four hundred foxes living in that area. I did tell the little guy just 13 months before that I hoped to see him again.
I have no way to know if he was one of the two as photo comparisons did not yield any evidence either way. The blessing of this encounter multiplied a hundredfold with even the slightest possibility of it being the kit from last years visit.
When one considers that all things are possible with God…and that odder things have happened to odder people…. the “Maybe” has to be considered!
Adventure blessings before dementia!
An unlikely reunion
As I drove the Teller Highway in search of animals and adventure, I came across a small flock (7-10) of Willow ptarmigan on the side of the road. I captured a shot or two but didn’t even get out of the car as they are like back road chickens on the county roads of Southern Indiana…slow to get off the road and totally confused on which way to go.
As I started to proceed, they decided to cross right in front of me and then freeze in the middle of the road. Proceeding like a sheepdog pushing a herd of sheep, I drove forward at a much less than a walking speed to try and force a decision on one side of the road or the other.
What I assumed to be success became frustration as all but one crossed into the brush to the right and disappeared. The one, stayed in the middle of the road for another 15 feet or so then as if it made eye contact with Medusa, froze at full attention in place. Just as I started to honk the horn to get it moving again, the nose of a red fox began protruding from the roadside vegetation on the left side of the road maybe 20 yards ahead.
The fox entered the side of the road now fully exposed…my heart started racing as I maintained eye contact with the fox as it glanced at the ptarmigan, then me, then its prey again. I was reaching for camera gear without trying to move my head or torso…much like way back in high school trying to hide a beer once pulled over by the police! When a second, but much more cautious fox stepped out, the awareness of the undeserved blessing that I was being granted sent shivers up my spine.
As the poor ptarmigan stood frozen between a car/human and now two foxes, I captured this shot, one of my favorite wildlife shots obtained during the entire two weeks of searching the Alaskan wilderness. I took dozens of shots as the lead fox came closer and closer…wanting the ptarmigan so badly but being hesitant to get any closer to me. I began to wonder if this could possibly be the young kit that I sat with on my visit last year on the open tundra and talked to for 30 or so minutes? I was probably within a mile or two of the little guy’s den, but didn’t know if there were four or four hundred foxes living in that area. I did tell the little guy just 13 months before that I hoped to see him again.
I have no way to know if he was one of the two as photo comparisons did not yield any evidence either way. The blessing of this encounter multiplied a hundredfold with even the slightest possibility of it being the kit from last years visit.
When one considers that all things are possible with God…and that odder things have happened to odder people…. the “Maybe” has to be considered!
Adventure blessings before dementia!