Something Wild

The sky was starting to clear as I made my way to work on Tuesday morning. I thought I might get some decent shots of the light breaking over one of the University farms, so I drove back the lane and took some photos and visited with the cows and calves who live there.

When I came back out Farm 10 Lane to turn left onto Park Ave. to go to work, I had some difficulty crossing the lanes against the morning traffic. So instead of turning left, I just went straight - and down the hill to a pull-off by a little field with a lovely path and fences and trees, a stone's throw from our famous Stadium. I figured I'd snap a few photos and then come back up the road and have an easier time of it when merging.

As I was standing there photographing a tree that I like, I saw an orange shape moving swiftly in the foreground. Could it be? No, it couldn't. Yes it was! A fox!

And so I stood and photographed the fox as it ran across the field at a pretty good speed. It knew I was there - and stopped once or twice to turn and look at me.

A bicyclist came by, followed the farm path, picked his bike up, and lifted it over the gate. As he passed by me, I said, "There's a red fox in the field!" and gestured. He merely grunted, and kept on moving.

The entire episode lasted about four minutes. The fox seemed quite healthy, with a big bushy tail. I wish I could say that I heard it bark or yip, but it made no sound at all. It was a good distance away, so I had the camera zoomed out pretty much all the way. I was holding the camera by hand, and that was a lot of zoom: I got some decent shots and some blurry ones.

In cases like this, I might try to lean the camera or at least my arm against something nearby to steady it on. But the closest thing to me appeared to be an electric fence. And you know how that goes: you never know if those things are live or not until you touch them. Upon which time, you may sometimes regret having done so. So free hand, it was.

I live in central Pennsylvania - a place that appears at first glance to be rather civilized. However, it's a great big, untamed world waiting out there right at the edges. I am sometimes even surprised myself at how often my little mini photo shoots turn into a walk on the wild side.

The song: John Hiatt, Something Wild. It is a favorite tune, and possibly the only song I know of whose lyrics contain the word "corpuscles." :-) Enjoy!