Wildlife Bingo
What began as aimless wanderings along the backroads near my hometown in south Texas nearly three years ago has become a photography project to document those moments that have made my jaw drop and my heart skip a beat. On Easter morning in 2018, I was crouched low behind a gate photographing a patch of wildflowers near an old cattle chute and as I stood up, I was caught by surprise by a jack rabbit running straight towards me. For a second, we both froze in our tracks. I took his photo and that officially began my scavenger hunt.
Fast forward to my current collection of nearly 3,000 images of sunrises, sunsets, birds, critters, wildflowers, pump jacks and a fascinating assortment of bird nests. As I roll down these La Salle County backroads at sunrise, I often wonder what will show itself and without expectations I enjoy my hunt and my solitude.
Great Horned Owl
I’ve never considered my drives a scavenger hunt but I would be lying to myself if I didn’t hope to see something extraordinary like a den of foxes with a bunch of pups or a mountain lion crossing the road in front of me. As a photographer, I created a “shot” list a couple of years ago…if you know a photographer, ask them what is on their “shot” list. The answers might surprise you as often as my own list surprises me.
A couple of weekends a month, I visit my mom and as she sleeps in, I’ve gotten in the habit of slipping out before sunrise to wander the red dirt backroads that I call “Gulley Road.” I know that I can usually get in at least 5-6 hours of play time before my mom calls to tell me to come home for lunch. When I get back to the house, my mom always asks if I got anything “good” — sometimes I do and I excitedly show her my catch of the morning and more often than not I don’t but I appreciate that she asks.
Unlike my dad, who would sit and listen to my stories from my travels and look at hundreds of photos for hours — mom’s attention span is more about the highlight reel. But she always surprises me when she says wants to go with me on my afternoon drives. After lunch and a data dump, I pack up my gear for a second drive with mom in tow (and her bag of snacks) we buckle in and I know that within a few miles she will be fast asleep. But on this day, as I put the car in drive and I turned to her and said, “let’s play Wildlife Bingo” — I want a photo of “bobcat, an owl, javelinas, fox, or an armadillo —- any of those that you see and I get a shot of — I’ll give you $20.” A smile lit up her face and she said, “Good. I’ll take your money.”
A little backstory about my mom — she loves to gamble —- she can play slots for hours — win or lose it’s all fun and games to her. When we were little she’d play card games with us for a nickel a hand. As we got older, she’d even bet me in games of dominos. She’d never agree but she’s competitive and playing to win is always her end game.
Great Horned Owl - La Salle County, Texas
I drove down my usual route stopping occasionally for a bird that was really too far off in the distance but I still cannot resist taking the shot and at 3 pm, the light is still too harsh for photography but it’s really about the hunt for me, driving around, and just looking. Within 45 minutes my mom is tapping my arm and resisting the urge to point at what she sees sitting on a fence post about a quarter of a mile still ahead of us. I roll up within 50 feet of him…not caring that I was stopping in the middle of the road. I grabbed my camera and slowly pushed open my door. With my camera wedged between a partly opened door and the car I took two shots of him. With his head turned away I knew they would be terrible shots but a bad owl shot is still an owl shot. I slipped out of the car and took two steps closer to the front of the car. Still with the back of his head to me that’s four bad shots but I inched closer and took a few more shots and even with a closed eye side profile he was a beautiful bird.
With his talons clamped around a metal fence post it was not the ideal perch but it was an OWL! A big fluffy Great Horned Owl sitting in the sun on a January afternoon — a perfect Texas winter day. A few times he’d tease me with his droopy eyelids opening just enough to show slivers of beautiful sunflower-yellow colored eyes.
A hammering of my shutter garnered some nice shots and without bothering him I half-circled him. Grabbing at least 50 shots I walked back to the car. My mom asked me “did you get a good one? — Yeah…I did…but…as I looked back, he had opened up both eyes and with his cute round face lit by golden sunlight, I grabbed my other lens and worked my way back to him. Without any movement other than an occasional head turn and a dismissive half wink glance at me. My shots weren’t in the least bit varied but he was patient and I still hadn’t tried video. As I pulled out the tripod, I knew it would spook him and he’d fly away but he saw it and gave it a look of indifference and closed his eyes.
Caught this Great Horned Owl taking in some sun on a south Texas winter afternoon. This is footage taken along my wanderings along "Gulley Road.”
I set up my video and grabbed a couple of minutes of absolutely no movement on his behalf but the giddiness kept swelling up inside. I spent close to thirty glorious minutes with him. As I got into the car, I said to my mom “I can’t believe it!” “I just can’t believe you saw him.” Before the buckle of my seatbelt clicked as I slipped it into the catch I looked over and my mom had her hand open, “You owe me $20.” I chuckled and unzipped my wallet — $16 was handed over with the $4 IOU. A few miles later, I realized that I had my $5 emergency money stashed in my camera bag and pulled it out and told my mom that I wanted my $1 back. She laughed and said, “no, that’s my bonus.”
The next morning, I flew by a pasture and only noticed the Whitetail buck after I had passed it. I came to a jolting halt and slipped out of the car and around to the back. The buck and his lovely doe took off and a couple of shots of them running were blurred but about 50 yards in the distance they stopped for a second.
When I walked through the door, I told my mom that I wished she had been with me because she would have seen the buck before I passed him and I would have gotten a better shot of him. With a straight face, she replied, “You don’t pay for deer. And, I don’t work for free.”