September 17, 2015

Most wild animals, when you get anywhere near them, immediately dart away in terror, flapping their wings or legs or other appendage in panic and squawking/squeaking like mad. Getting anywhere an undomesticated animal is either impossible, or requires spending several interminable hours covered in leaves with an exceptionally expensive long lens.

My hairy, four-footed friends, however, were quite different.

I had just gotten off work, and I decided to go work a walk with my trusty sony a99. The lighting was absolutely beautiful, yesterday’s winds having blown back all the smoke, and big, puffy grey clouds hung in the sky, lit up by the golden afternoon sun.

I was walking down one of the roads near my parent’s house, snapping some pics here and there, enjoying the weather and the scenery, when I came upon a large wire fence. I walked a bit closer and I realized that the fence housed about a dozen goats! Something I, at least, definitely didn’t see every day. I think the last time I had actually seen goats up close was at a zoo on a middle school field trip, let alone twelve of them. There were all sorts of them, bigger ones with curved horns, smaller females with little ears that flicked this way and that, and then little toddler goats with spindly legs and large eyes.

 

As I approached the fence every single one of the dozen goat’s heads suddenly snapped up. I froze. Twelve pairs of eyes stared at me for a breath of a second. Then, as one, the entire herd of goats trotted over to the fence where I was standing and stared at me, with their unblinking rectangular pupils.

(Interesting sidenote: I actually didn’t realize until now that goats had rectangular pupils. I’m sure a lot of you knew this, but I grew up in a relatively urban area and there weren’t really a whole lot of goats or other animals around – besides cats and purse-sized dogs. Anyway, for those of you don’t know, the reason they have rectangular pupils is to allow them to collect more light and to give them a wider field of vision, in order to help them avoid predators. Evolution’s such neat thing isn’t it?)

After a while, the goats drifted back into the pen, munching contentedly on sticks and other bits of stuff on the ground. They eat pretty much anything, apparently.

They really were some funny creatures. The seemed so innocently curious, and the way they all moved together and looked at me with an almost child-like wonder and fascination was adorable. I ended up spending quite a bit of time sitting beside that fence, watching them munch on sticks to their hearts content.

Everyone once in a while one of them would saunter over to me, glance at me quizzically, then go back to munching on a stick.

 

Unfortunately, due to my detour, I ended up losing most of my light before I could make it to my actual destination (which is also the location for my first official Ohventure of the Week – stayed tuned for more information!) but it was a fun, totally spontaneous experience, and definitely a fun detour.

Thanks for reading and remember to keep your camera close! You never know when you might have an adventure of your own. See you tomorrow for another Daily Detour!

One last friendly goat to see wish you a happy Thursday!