Waaaaay off in the distance – at least a mile away – we could see a brown dot moving around a meadow. There was no one around with a good scope, so we had to depend on our binoculars to get a better look. Magnified, the brown dot was just a bigger brown dot, but it moved like a bear, and was surrounded by a group of hyperactive ravens. Could there be a kill there?
I knew my camera couldn’t get a good shot at that distance, but decided to zoom in as far as I could to try and get a better look. It worked; the shot was fuzzy as could be, but we were clearly looking at a grizzly. Excellent.
I took another shot and we wandered back to the car to see what else we could find. When I got home and put both photos on the computer, I noticed something in the second photograph.
Do you see it? Here, I’ll zoom in a little more:
There, on the right…it’s a wolf! He was sitting there the whole time, watching the grizzly go at the carcass. Amazing. Here he is blown up a bit more:
How much do I love that? The nature-watcher’s version of the 60’s film Blowup. Remember it, when the fashion photographer blows up one of his photos and sees a dead body on the background? Much nicer to find a hidden wolf!
Off the Beaten Path: Hikes, Backpacks, and Travels 
Nice comparison to “Blow-Up.”
That’s your influence, I do believe!
It’s not often you get a wolf as a surprise.
True! Can’t recall it ever happening to me before.
That is indeed something to love!
🙂
Wow…what a sight to see….from a safe distance 🙂
We had the distance thing covered, that’s for sure!
I know the frustration of having to blow up an image almost to the point of pixelation before you see the wolf. But at least you got it! I’m on my way out there in a few weeks and this Floridian is glad to see the snow is dissipating. 🙂
The snow is still many feet deep up high – Silver Gate probably has at least 3 feet still on the ground. But the valleys are greening up nicely.
Got a bear, a wolf, some ravens and for all intents the dead body as well if your hunch about the kill is correct (and I think it is spot on!). Great photos! It captures so well exactly why the wild outdoors has such a draw; there’s always something undiscovered that pulls us back.
Good point – there probably was a body there! Thanks.
That is so cool! Don’t you wish you had a spotting scope and could have digiscoped this action? Actually I don’t have one and have never done that, but it sounds like a great idea.
I do! Often it seems that it doesn’t matter, but when they’re that far away it would make a huge difference.
Great progression and an accurate rendition of what real wildlife photography is about.
Thanks!
I always find it interesting the details that we photographers notice once the image is in the computer. Sometimes, in the haste of getting a shot, we fail to see everything.
So true. I often I feel like my focusing on getting a photograph results in my missing the “real” scene. But in this instance – with the wolf so far away and not moving – I could have looked and looked and not seen him. Interesting, indeed.