I may be too old for ‘Where’s Waldo’ but I love an image that contains a hidden element as the focal point. This one was so good that I didn’t even know I had two interlopers in my landscape photos while taking in some nature photography in Glacier National Park. I was just off the Hidden Lake Nature Trail taking some images of water falling off a rockface trying to tie in the lush and vibrant greens represented in the moss. As I was composing the shot through the viewfinder one of the rocks appeared to move. Moving rocks indeed! I was sharing my landscape image with ptarmigan. Neither were wary to my presence nor the hiker traffic on the trail and I was able to grab a couple of shots before they wandered off (there is only one captured in this shot).

Side Note: Everytime I see a ptarmigan I think of a remote 4 shack (saloon/liquor store, general store, cafe, and residence) village tucked into the bush along the Taylor Highway (#5) in Alaska. This unique tourist attraction is approximately midway between Tok Alaska (130km to the south) and Dawson City Yukon (170km to the east). Legend has it that the then mining town was to be named after the plentiful ptarmigan found in the area. Unfortunately the townsfolk couldn’t decide on the proper spelling of ptarmigan, hence Chicken Alaska was born. If you visit bring an extra hometown hat or license plate to add to the ambiance of the bar.

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