Into the Woods
Looking Up
Walking Along the Edge
A StagWalking towards me!
Silently,As quietly as he had appeared,
He slipped back
Into the woods!
(Actually,
a blessing,
as I later find out!)
A Sounder of Wild BoarsCrossed my path,
Moments after the stag!
I was so stunned,
I lifted my camera too late,
Framing only the very last piglet,
Before it disappeared
Behind a pile of branches.
Obliviousness Can Be A Blessing At Times!
Only now did I learn from Wikipedia that,
“If surprised or cornered, a boar (and particularly a sow with her piglets) can and will defend itself and its young vigorously. The male lowers its head, charges, and then slashes upward with its tusks. The female, which is tuskless, charges with its head up, mouth wide, and bites. Such attacks are rarely fatal to humans, but severe trauma and blood loss can easily result.”
Mamma mia!
According to an old French hunter’s saying,
"Au sanglier la civière, au cerf la bière..."
the real danger was even worse:
While the wild boar sends you back home on a "hand barrow",
A stag would dispatch you in a coffin!
I am running scared
right now!
I didn’t even dare to research
what or whom that large eagle,
circling over my head,
was really after!
*
Photographed this past Saturday
at Nationalpark Donau-Auen
The "Danube-Wetlands" National Park:
This sanctuary along the Danube river
protects one of the last remaining
river wetland areas in Europe still intact.
A quarter of this park, the "Lobau" ("water woods"),
approximately 2,300 hectares in size,
lies within city boundaries.
The rest of this earthly paradise
extends east along the Danube river.
*
Note:
I gleaned the French bit of wisdom about the dangers of encountering wild boars and stags from an article about wild boar (Sanglier) hunting in France at GourmetFly.com.
I dare you to click on the pictures to enlarge them! The wild animals may be larger than they appear. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI wish you all a wonderful Tuesday,
and wildlife encounters of the safe kind. :-)
Wow! I bet you would get some decent venison steaks off that creature!
ReplyDeleteAmazing capture :-)
I think it's safer walking through Vienna (??)
ReplyDeleteEileen (passions to pastry)
www.livingtastefully.com
I'm really glad you made it out safely! I might sound batty but it strikes me as nice to know that there are still places in the heavily populated parts of the world where one can be in more danger from wild animals (with no disrespect to those people who have been injured or killed).
ReplyDeleteMaalie:
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to wait til autumn hunting season though. ;-)
Eileen:
Who knows? ;-)
Radiogirl:
I still feel as if I were in a fairy tale, first the stag, then immediately after the boars, with the absolutely stunning looking (Bald?) eagle circling above.
Holy Cow! A stag and then the boars? You must have felt like you had stepped into another world!! What an adaventure! Glad you are safe and sound.
ReplyDelete~Allie
ALLIE:
ReplyDelete"Phewie!"
Talk about post-traumatic stress, you know? ;-)
Wow! Love the stag. That's an exciting couple of encounters. We see a lot of smaller animals when we walk in the woods here but not ones like this. I would love to walk those woods.
ReplyDeleteThose woods are beautiful (my decidely favorite places to be). I'm glad you came away from your (magical!) wildlife encounters unscathed. :-)
ReplyDeleteCHARLES GRAMLICH:
ReplyDeleteI suppose that down in the Louisiana Bayous there must be very similar landscapes. Must be great background to some of your stories! ;-)
Merisi...your photography is amazing....I've never encountered anything quite so fantastic on my walks in the woods. Be safe my friend...
ReplyDeleteA sounder of boars--is that the collective word for a group? I'd never heard it before.
ReplyDeleteWhoa that was some encounter. Really scary to me but your photos are terrific.
ReplyDeleteThe rack on that stag is magnificient.
Be safe on your next adventure.
Well, quite an adventure with the wild boar!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you didn't meet it face to face.
The stag is magnificent.
Gosh, I would be awe struck to be in the presence of such a stag....and scared to death of those wild boars! What a beautiful place you have taken us too...lovely woods! And what adventure you encountered.
ReplyDeleteWhoa!! what a rack of antlers on that stag! It would make my male deer with its 8 point rack look like a wimp.
ReplyDeleteYou were lucky with the boar, they have them out in California. They are known to go after joggers.
Now do you have bears out there.
www.thequietone.net
Stags very rarely attack people, they tend to run away, unless it is in the rutting season, Autumn, and they are alone. That usually means they have been injured by a stronger male and maybe feeling a bit irritible. We have a lot of deer here. If you take up my offer for a stay in Cheshire, I will take you to them!
ReplyDeleteSo the collective noun for wild pigs is 'sounder'. Did you know the collective noun for ravens is an 'unkindness'?
Eveyday life is filled with exciting moments.
ReplyDeleteYou are an artist to capture them?
Do you also speak French as well as Italian?.....will Norwegian come next :-)
You lucky girl! Oh I'm so glad that he went in the woods and didn't decide to disembowel you there in the woods!!We might not have seen these delicious photos...I have a little something for you at my place, please do come pick it up...
ReplyDeletehugs
Sandi
Geez - and people reckon Australian wildlife is dangerous!!
ReplyDeleteyes boars will do that.
ReplyDeleteI used to go boar hunting with dog and knife.... if done correctly more humain that a gun..
But 120kg of wild boar is not to be taken lightly at all!
beautiful photos. Just came by to congratulate for the award from Sandi McBride.
ReplyDeleteWOO WOO !
ReplyDeleteStay away from the stags and the bores!
What's wrong with Vienna's coffee shops?
Keep outta nature I say!
Course on second thought maybe he heard about your rep too!
ReplyDeleteand ran the other way...ahem
I suppose you ate your 120kg of wild boar, Simon?
ReplyDeleteOh my, was that exciting! Glad you're safe!
ReplyDeleteYou probably do not know this, but I am a secret admirer of your excellent weblog. I have today named you fot the Excellent Blog Award. You may find the details on my site.
ReplyDeleteYour servant,
WAM
lorenzo- yes indeed and gutted them on the spot...
ReplyDeletegame meat is very delicious...
Lucky escape! I've visited from Simons ... ;)
ReplyDeleteI smiled when I read your label 'living dangereously' because I am scared to go to the woods, any woods for the matter. But these are just serene. wishing you happy weekend :)
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Vienna and live in Paris. Your blog is very very beautiful and poetic. I hope you don't mind I put you in my links.
ReplyDeleteHow magical! It must have seemed enchanted. How nice they weren't concerned about you. By the way I wanted to let you know I passed on one of those blogger awards to you. Normally I don't do this but I really wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your creativity with your photos and how inspirational you are. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteSO different from the Thames and the London parks.
ReplyDeleteMind you, sometimes the squirrels are pretty fierce.
Intrepid photographer . . ..
Are you still in that wood Merisi? Hope you aren't lost and can't find the way out!
ReplyDeleteDon't they use pigs for hunting truffles in the woods?
ReplyDeleteWe were in a parkland recently where the deer just came walking up to you as well.
ReplyDeleteI love the way the light shines through the leaves on your morning in the city pics.
I had to click on the pictures to check out on the wildlife. Love them!
ReplyDeleteHere are stags and boars. I invite you to find some Himalayan Bears on my blog..haha!
Gorgeous photos. I have never seen a stag so big!
ReplyDelete(& thank you for dropping my blog.)