On the way out of the park towards the end of the previous week we had an astonishing sight. It was a coyote frozen in the river, back covered with a fresh blanket of snow, and still as a rock waiting for a trout to swim by his feet. Up to that point i had only heard of salmon fishing wolves, those who wait by the shallows for a salmon to go by in the midst of grizzlies, but never had i ever heard of trout fishing coyote. It was cold, dark, and only getting worse. We shot out of the van regardless. The slightest movement would cause the image to be unsharp, most of my shots came back that way. At 1/30 shutter speed it’s easy to make that happen. Even a tripod wasn’t stable enough. We didn’t care, I didn’t care. I wanted that shot even if they did suck. A trout fishing coyote is just too darn cool. This is a perfect example of the mysteries of the park that have yet to be captured in a single click. Everyday there is a surprise.
Images captured with Nikon D3, 200-400 Vr, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film