STOP, THIEF! - 29 May 2013

Raven On Bike - Yellowstone, National Park, Wyoming, File # 1311472

Beautiful picture of my bike isn't it? What's that you see on the back, on my tripod? It's a bird. Yes, it is a bird. Specifically, it's a raven. "What is a raven doing on my bike?" you're wondering to yourself. Well, it's doing what most ravens would do; take advantage of the situation to find a morsel of food.

Imagine this situation. You're on the side of the road at a very popular location shooting images of elk. Towards the end of this situation, a very nice looking grandmother looking woman comes forward out of the blue holding forth her camera. She's saying something you don't quite understand. Or, it's not computing whatever she's saying. You think, "she must want help with her camera." No, she has something else in mind. Then after a few more seconds it dawns on you, she's trying to show her awesome pictures of a bird on a bike that's trying to find something cool to steal.

Seems this woman was photographing the bird while I had my back turned shooting pictures of elk. It dawns on me. I look at her pictures. Then, I look up and behold, there's this raven confidently perched on my bike looking like he owns the place. I laugh a little inside. I move towards the bike and snap a few images along the way. The bird clearly sees the gig is up and launches into the far trees. Seems the bird was much more tolerant of the grandmother allowing her to take all sorts of images. Me, it took off to the mountains when I approached.

The bird was trying to find something to eat. It carefully pulled out the contents of the right pannier hoping to find something. Nope, nothing to eat there. I think it found my gloves, my hat, even the little bag holding my electronic view finder as non-edible.

No, it didn't find anything. No, it didn't hang out as I arrived. No, I didn't get more images other than some like this taken from a distance.

Just happened to be when the little older lady showed up with her excited smile, I happened to be done shooting the elk. It was time to move on so adjusting focus to the bike/bird was perfectly done. I took four shots then it took off to parts unknown.

If you didn't know, ravens are famous for this type of thing. In fact, there are many reports of these birds damaging things--I suffered no damage. As a result, I am glad nothing bad happened to my stuff. And, this makes an epic story. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

Cheers

Tom Hill

Epic Trip to Yellowstone May 2013Motorcycle