The irony of wildlife photography

“Don’t look back” may be good psychological advice for putting the past behind you, but for wildlife photographers in the field, it’s advice to be ignored.

Shortly after I arrived at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm yesterday, I looked ahead and saw a photographer I didn’t recognize pointing a camera with a long, tripod-mounted lens into one of the main fields. He must be looking for Northern harriers, I thought, or maybe a late appearing short-eared owl.

With warm, golden light streaming down not long after dawn, conditions were excellent for catching a photo of a bird flying on the western side of the big fields. But that’s not where the action was.

As I continued up the trail, a deer suddenly poked its way through the brush and crossed the path roughly 10 yards behind the photographer. Not noticing the deer, he kept looking westward. Nor did he notice the five deer that followed, each crossing the paved path into the big field to our left.

Suppressing a chuckle, I snapped a couple of frames, including the one topping this post. The photographer never did turn around and see the deer. He moved off to the right and I headed straight, and we weren’t close enough to exchange even a hello.

That little episode of wildlife irony made me wonder how many times the birds and other critters inhabiting the woods have snuck behind me as I’m fixated on a point ahead. Did they suppress a chuckle at my expense?

This episode is a good reminder for us to look up, down and all around as we make our way through the wilds. It also prompts me to salute the wildlife, whose habitat we have relentlessly trampled, for pulling a clever trick on us camera-wielding humans.