After recent conversation with a friend I began recalling fond experiences with animals. Mind you, they are generally pedestrian, but I prefer staying toward the top of the food chain.
1. Butterflies licking the sweat off my skin on a hot day
2. A pod of killer whales in Prince William Sound
3. Forty buzzards roosting in the tree behind my house
4. Reeling in a giant fish head after a barracuda ate my catch
5. Watching a hawk nab its prey from an easy stone’s throw away
6. Crow-sized pileated woodpeckers visiting my window feeder
7. Holding a sea cucumber at the aquarium in Key West
8. Being threatened alongside my mom by a mole not much larger than my big toe
9. Watching days old kittens use a litter box
10. Moose strutting through downtown Seward, Alaska
11. Alligators seen up-close from an airboat in Florida
12. A baby groundhog following its mother through my backyard
13. Watching two fighting cats become nothing but a blurry ball of action with the occasional clawed paw – I always thought cartoon animators made that one up
These are great. One of my more recent encounters with nature involved two cats having sex in my driveway. Prior to their union, the male seemed to have trouble deciding where to focus his attention - on the human with the camera, or the furry female rolling on the ground at his feet. He decided I was not a threat, or perhaps he didn't care. That's not him in my profile, BTW.
ReplyDeleteLook at you go, getting Thursday thirteen done even with the holiday. Between work and family dinner, I missed again this week.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you put the buzzards in here. All the way back to the beginning :)
I hope you had a wonderful holiday!!
Thank you for the kind comments!
ReplyDeleteDilo, I want pictures. :) You are a wonderful photographer from what I've seen. And I appreciate all your support.
Nikki, Can you believe we had two strange and unfamiliar buzzards in that tree just today?! Small world. The pair (mated?) had unusually red faces and different behavior from our summer visitors. I'll have to look them up. I imagine Nat's face plastered to the glass like mine was with a sighting scope. ;)