Accidental Encounters

Accidental encounters . . .

Some friends of ours visited from the Midwest a few years ago. One of them never experienced wild life beyond citified raccoons.

We put them in the car and moseyed two states over and visited Yellowstone National Park.

Among the varied scenery, a faint to strong smell of sulfur and scattered bears, multitudes of birds and buffalo, we followed a short path to a picnic area. A herd of elk got there before us.

A neighborly bull elk in Yellowstone National Park, near sunset.

I snapped this beauty of a bull wandering nearby before we gently backed out of the area—there were calves in the herd.

Traveling back in time a few years, my father lived with us for a few years. While entertaining some friends at Mount Rainier, my father shared a story about the many animals in the area. He held a bit of protein bar in his hand he had not yet finished.

He reached the climax of his story and waved his hand out in front of him. An alert gray jay swooped down from a tree and helped himself to the last of the protein bar. Our friends dove for cover.

The intended photo of my father and our friends.

A Gray Jay swoops in for a free meal.

Accidental encounters? Happy accidents? Lucky shots? Either way I’m glad I caught them.

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