Sunday, November 16, 2008

Morning Sky



I headed out this morning to try to capture on film an animal I could see sitting calmly on the trail in the pasture. I'm assuming it was Brazen Coyote, yet his (or her) whole chest and belly and much of his face was pure white. He sat like a puppy, on the bum with hind legs extended, forelegs between the hind ones.

There wasn't enough light for me to see much else except the colouring, but the rounded ears were just like Brazen's. I suspect Brazen may be a mix of coyote and wolf, or coyote and dog, since coyotes usually have pointed ears and these are very definitely rounded. But the colour? Last time I saw Brazen, he was that wonderful mix of browns and rusts and goldens with just a touch of white on his neck and chest. Do coyotes change colour in winter? Do wolves? Had it been a strange dog, Martin would have been sounding the alarm, yet he was silently standing beside me.

I turned for a moment to give Martin his feed, and when I turned back the critter was gone - a phantom slipping into the mist of early dawn.

And so, instead, I looked skyward and captured the sun struggling to wake up the world.










2 comments:

Black Jack's Carol said...

So, your passion to photograph this beautiful mystery animal connected you to a lovely early morning sky. Maybe, one day, when you are trying to catch a sunrise or sunset, he or she will be waiting for you.

I'm guessing Martin is your horse? (I haven't got your animals straight in my mind yet, and no time today to go back over your blog.)

Jean said...

Martin is an alpaca - he was abandoned on this property about seven or eight years ago, and lived in the trees at the back. Some tenants fed him, some didn't, but somehow he survived. I had the landlord sign him over to me, so he will never be abandoned again. Plans are in place for him to live out his life with another animal lover in the event I must move to a place without acreage or if anything happens to me.