Tracking the truth

© harrington

Animal tracks abound beside and on country roads. I know for a fact that the tracks shown above were made by a rooster pheasant because I saw him make them. You may wonder why I have a picture of pheasant tracks instead of one of the pheasant himself. Short answer is uncooperative pheasant. Longer answer: I couldn't slow down the car, turn around, get out the camera, turn it on and focus it on the pheasant before he decided that the frozen alder swamp away from the road would be more appealing than posing for me at roadside for absolutely no model fee. I may need to start putting the camera on the passenger's seat (when there's no other passenger) as I leave work. That would mean though, that in order to work on protecting my DSLR, I would need to drive even more cautiously than usual (you can fade the laughter any time now). It might be worth it if I can  get more photos of creatures rather than just creature tracks. I have noticed that, when my camera is handy, I tend to slow down more, look about more, pay greater attention to details, than I do when I'm in my normal frenetic state. New Englanders have a saying that "deer tracks and striped bass rumors make mighty thin chowder." The same can be said about rushing through life, especially when it's being lived somewhere as beautiful as My Minnesota.