I am moving across the tundra quickly, because about a mile out a gyrfalcon is beating its wings above a cliff, and I want to see it close up before it soars beyond the bald mountains. With my eyes to the sky, I barely realize I’ve just breached an abandoned quarry. Things just start to happen so fast – the surprised giant wakes and stands in defiance. His brown, shaggy coat droops to his knees, and those giant horns face me.
My friends say I am jumpy around wild animals – this may be true, but can you blame me? He’s about thirty feet away – do I run? Moose, yes. Bear, no. But a muskox? The jeep is about a half-mile away. He’ll win the charge to the Jeep, I’ll win a bolt directly to the gravel road, which is much closer than the Jeep.
Seconds pass, he’s not charging. I give him a second look; is he more nervous than me?
Coastal grasses along Safety Sound, near Nome,Alaska.
Coastal grasses along Safety Sound, near Nome,Alaska.
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