A Dream Encounter
Let me start by saying that today’s encounter still has might heart racing… and it happened about six and half hours ago! This will stay with me forever…
My day started at my usual hour in Deerfield - I went back to where I was yesterday in the hopes of seeing the Short-eared Owl again. I had absolutely no luck at all - it was extremely quiet. I hung in there for about 2 1/12 hours wandering around trying to find spots where I thought the owl might be hanging out - I just had no luck. It was a beautiful morning - no wind and about 26 degrees with full sun once the sun came up.
I went home and had some breakfast and warmed up. I kept thinking… I can’t let this day go by without trying again somewhere - I decided on Bullitt in Ashfield. I knew it would be a gorgeous ride up there since there was still about an inch or two of snow on the ground from yesterday.
I arrived at Bullitt at about 10:30 and was there for just under 2 hours. My plan was to head up to the upper field as I knew the sun would be at the perfect angle in that field… it would be behind me. Thank goodness for low angled winter sun - in the summer the lighting would not have been anywhere near as nice as it was today at that time. At the top of this field there is a wooden bench that sits in front of a gorgeous stone wall in front of the woods with a huge beautiful tree right behind it . A couple of months ago I approached my contact at Bullitt to ask her if I could receive permission to gift a new bench in that spot in Lorraine’s loving memory. We agreed that the current bench, which has been repaired many times over the years, probably was beyond saving at this point. She loved the idea and she contacted the higher ups who also loved the idea and agreed to this gift. They are still working out the details but hopefully at some point this year there will be a new bench in that very special spot. I always make my way to that bench, not to sit, but rather to take in the view of the mountains in the distance and to look down over the gorgeous field below. No doubt I will take the time to sit on the new bench once it is installed.
The field is at a fairly steep slope as far as fields go. As you walk up about the first 1/3 of the way you then follow a short path to the left. This path then makes a sharp right to meet the path that takes you the next 1/3 of the way. I had only gone about 10 yards when I stopped to set up my tripod and to do a quick scan of the field and tree line ahead of me. It was totally quiet - very beautiful, but quiet. I took this opportunity to change the battery in my camera as I noticed it was running low from my morning outing out in the cold weather. Just as I was snapping the battery compartment closed I sensed some movement close to me and up slightly to my right…. I didn’t see anything but I moved my camera around to face the direction that I sensed the movement coming from…. Then all of a sudden…………!
A stunning bobcat appeared about 10 feet from me!!! It had come up from the bottom of the field and had just crested a knoll which is why it seemed like she appeared out of thin air!! We were both startled by each other….for a moment I didn’t move and neither did she. I immediately started shooting as I was holding my breath. If I told you I have dreamed of an encounter like this a thousand times… I would be underestimating! The sun was behind me perfectly, just like I knew the it would be, and she was a little higher up than I was… a dream beyond dreams……. Our entire encounter lasted 3 seconds….I know that I was holding my breath the entire time as I was so overwhelmed to have this opportunity with such otherworldly beauty…
Here she is -
I had time to fire off two more quick shots while she was in this position…
She is stunning, gorgeous, extraordinary, astonishing, thrilling, breathtaking, captivating…. !
As soon as I fired the shot above she got down low to start her getaway!
Can you sense her power and strength?
Absolutely amazing power! Right after this shot she somehow turned her body in midair to stop moving to her left and to instead bound straight ahead! I took a quick step to my left to capture the rest of the shots as she was moving down over the knoll and would soon be out of my line of vision!
The next shot is my last - she was then out of my line of vision and I never saw her again…
As soon as I took this last shot I realized that I was still holding my breath in total awe. I stepped away from my camera and looked around in front of me - she had appeared and disappeared all in 3 seconds. 3 seconds of absolute wonder. 3 seconds of absolute stunning beauty.
My heart was pounding over this incredible encounter. If I hadn’t stopped to scan the field and trees, if I hadn’t replaced my battery, if, if, if. And then I looked around and behind my left shoulder and saw the bench up in the top corner of the field that will be replaced in Lorraine’s loving memory - exactly in line with me and the bobcat…