On a back road exiting Death
Valley, I rounded a gentle curve on a dusty road and came face
to face with a coyote pup. I slowed to a stop hoping not to alarm
it. Many times I've noticed wild animals and birds are at ease
with moving traffic, but stopping often spooks them. He didn't
run.
I slowly rolled down the window
and raised my camera to eye level. With all my movement I expected
to see an empty frame but he was still there, so I focused and
took several shots. When I finished, I rummaged around in my
grocery bag and came up with a crust of bread. It was the least
I could do for this forlorn looking creature. As soon as the
bread hit the ground, and to my great surprise, two full-grown
coyotes dashed from the underbrush and snarled at each other
as the morsel disappeared. The pup never moved, and never got
anything to eat!
I'm sure my face had a puzzled
look on it as I resumed my journey and replayed the scenario
in my mind. When the road began to curve again, I glanced in
my rear view mirror and saw that another car had stopped in my
place. The last thing I saw as they went out of sight was an
arm tossing something out of the driver's window ….
It occurred to me that I hadn't
captured an image but had, in fact, been captured by the image.
His was a practiced stance. I had the feeling I had just been
held up by a family of highway bandits!