One never knows when a travel moment can become a lasting memory....
While driving to Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta (the twin park to Montana's Glacier National Park), part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, I pulled off the road to take some photos of one of my favorite ecosystems in the world. Few places interest me more than that transition between the great central plains of North America and the Rocky Mountains....and few are more beautiful.
I parked my car safely off the road, walked through a shallow ditch to the edge of a fenced pasture and started viewing, then snapping photos of the scenery. It was pretty and I stood there taking in the fresh morning air and grand views! The first hay had just been cut and its scent filled my nostrils.
Maybe 200 meters from me a group of cattle stood and watched. And watched. I watched back a bit but was more interested in the mountain and prairie landscapes.
After a few moments they started approaching me. Slowly at first, somewhat cautiously....
They stopped again, then moved closer, then stopped, a process repeated a number of times until they were within an arm's length of me. These massive powerful animals were extremely curious about what I was doing there. I think they were especially interested in my SLR camera and the clicking noises it made.
It's not rare to have the opportunity to take pictures of cattle in Alberta but this curious group definitely had my attention. They were well feed and well cared for, and each had a tag in one ear, possibly part of an agricultural or breeding program.
After studying each other for a few more minutes, I headed back to my car and continued south to Waterton. My four hooved pals waited at the fence until I left. It was maybe another half hour drive to beautiful Waterton park and I made a few more stops for some of the scenic photos you see below (beautiful, isn't it), but never again becoming the focus of attention of domesticated livestock.
I was reminded of this incident when I came across this YouTube video of cattle enjoying some musicz. It's only about few minutes long but I found the animals curiosity fascinating...
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