Morning Walk with Javalinas?

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

Patagonia, AZ

We woke up to frost on the ground a couple of days ago.  When the sun started warming the earth, I decided to take a very early walk. Crispy morning air, so bright and clear!

 The fields had a golden look to them.  I saw a couple of deer in the tall grass, but no luck getting their picture.  As a matter of fact, they seem to be the masters of evading my camera.  I can only see their heads above the grass and then they duck down.  They blend into the woods so well that I hear them before I see them and forget about the camera! By the time I have it up and ready - they are gone!  I'll get a photo of one  sooner or later.

The walk is about 2 miles round trip and it had been pretty quiet until I heard some crashing in the underbrush just below the pathway.  I thought it was deer, but I wasn't seeing them.  Then, I saw the Javalinas.   I stopped to get a photo, but the ravine was too dark and one of the Javalinas started to make grunting noises and blowing loudly through his nose.  Time to move on!  I kept an eye on them just to be sure they were staying put and not watching where I was going.  Yea, big mistake!  This guy was on the path right in front of me!

Javalina

Okay!  Time to turn around and go the other direction!  I'm glad I did change directions to follow the spring-fed creek trail.  The sun was hitting it just right to cause steam to rise up.  So enchanting!  I looked for Frodo and Sam, but I did not see either Hobbit.  Darn!

Instead, I ran into the three little Javalinas.  They were munching until I started taking their picture.  They all stopped to stare back at me.  Yep, you guessed it - time to move on....

The rest of my walk was uneventful, but very relaxing.  I took this last photo with my Fish-eye lens just for fun.  I hope you enjoyed my walk and photos.