Ten days ago I pointed you to a post on Birding Beijing in which Terry Townshend and his partner Marie Ng were lucky enough to see and take videos of the rare Pallas’s cat—on Terry’s birthday, too!
Well, the guy is having a run of good luck, because his latest post describes an encounter in China’s Qinghai Province with not one, but two snow leopards (Panthera uncia, also known as the “ounce”)—and only six days after the Pallas Encounter.
Terry has a two-minute video distilled from the two hours he watched these beautiful cats, and also some swell photos. To see the post, click on the link above or on the screenshot below. The video is midway through the post.
If I were religious, I’d say this guy is blessed. But being a naturalist, all I can say is that the laws of physics favored him over me.
h/t: Ben
Just gorgeous! I had to replay the video because I realized at the end I hadn’t noticed one of the snow leopards for part of the time because of its camouflage.
Hi Heather. We watched the first one for half an hour before we realised there were two and the second was in full view! If they don’t move, they can be extremely hard to detect! Terry
JC, I follow yr blog w pleasure, but you need to add to people born this day Jorge Luis Borges. I hope I didn’t miss this morning’s blog, but I do not remember Hili dialogue, w wh I begin my cyber-day.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/08/24/borges-jfk-collective-tragedy-collective-joy/
No, the laws of physics favoured the person able (“willing” etc don’t count) to enter the appropriate environment.
Like “fortune favours the prepared mind”, but with a strong element of “right spatio-temporal coordinates”.
Such great animals. To see them in the wild like that must be a great life experience.
Thank you Terry, Ben, and PCC(e).
To rejoice in another person’s success is also a blessing (used here to mean just “a beneficial trait”).