I’ll get to the painted bison in a minute but my first experience that morning was yet another example of people who think rules and laws apply to everyone but them. After all, they’re “special”.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/illegal-camper-antelope-island-1638-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"illegal-camper-antelope-island-1638-ron-dudley\\"")
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Camping on the island is only allowed in campgrounds and designated camping areas but this clown thought he could camp anywhere he pleased. And he did just that. He was obviously still asleep in his tent as I drove by him to check out a\u00a0nearby\u00a0pond for birds.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/illegal-camper-antelope-island-1645-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"illegal-camper-antelope-island-1645-ron-dudley\\"")
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When I came back he still wasn’t stirring. Soon after I left the area I\u00a0reported him to a ranger friend (who had just spotted the illegal camper himself) and the ranger was about to report him to law enforcement. I hope they gave him both\u00a0a citation and a stern lecture. This is something I\u00a0see all\u00a0too often on the island and\u00a0I suspect they get away with it\u00a0more often\u00a0than they should.<\/p>\n
As you may have noticed there was some pretty funky light between the marina behind the vehicle\u00a0and the Wasatch Mountains in the far background.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/antelope-island-funky-light-0144-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"antelope-island-funky-light-0144-ron-dudley\\"")
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So I repositioned myself to document its source. There wasn’t much color and the marina isn’t my favorite setting on the island\u00a0but I thought those crepuscular rays were pretty spectacular.<\/p>\n
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Ok, what about those painted bison? Or “buffaloes” as so many folks call them?<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/antelope-island-bison-art-0223-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"antelope-island-bison-art-0223-ron-dudley\\"")
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There are three of them on the island and this one greets visitors just as they get on the island from the causeway. They and others were created by local artists for Utah’s 2002 Winter Olympic Games and at the time they were distributed all across the Wasatch Front as a promotion. But after the games were over Davis County started looking for a symbol as their “brand” and settled on the “buffalo” because of all the bison on Antelope Island. Eventually three of them were distributed over the northern end of the island where they remain to this day.<\/p>\n
This one has been painted “as a tribute to the birds and the birdwatchers of Antelope Island”. Its paint job includes a variety of local birds with their scientific names. The Antelope Island State Park Visitor Center can be seen on the horizon on top of the hill in the background.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/antelope-island-bison-art-0182-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"antelope-island-bison-art-0182-ron-dudley\\"")
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This painted bison with a decidedly different paint job is on the grounds of the visitor center. The 7 mile long causeway to the island can be seen\u00a0snaking out into what remains of this portion of the Great Salt Lake and toward the rest of Davis County on the “mainland”.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/antelope-island-bison-art-0199-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"antelope-island-bison-art-0199-ron-dudley\\"")
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The third painted bison was placed near the first one at the entrance to the island. The theme of this one’s paint job seems to be handprints representing native cultures long-gone in the area. This one seems to be the most popular of the three with tourists.<\/p>\n
Personally I’ve always thought of these painted\u00a0bison as being a little garish and incongruous in such a natural setting as Antelope Island but when I asked my ranger friend what kind of feedback they’ve had about them over the years he said that as far as he knows none of it has been negative and they’re “very popular with tourists”. And I suspect he’s right because I rarely drive by them when I don’t see tourists taking photos of\u00a0each other with the bison. For better or for worse they truly have become icons of the island. I really don’t mind them but with those bright paint jobs\u00a0they just seem a little… I’ll say it again, incongruous, at least for my tastes.<\/p>\n
But love’m or not I was disappointed to see that low-brows have recently\u00a0vandalized this one.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/antelope-island-bison-art-vandalism-0204-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"antelope-island-bison-art-vandalism-0204-ron-dudley\\"")
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Tourists from\u00a0Florida tagged one of the horns of this one a couple of months ago. To my knowledge this vandalism was first reported on Facebook by Judy Miller Watson.\u00a0My ranger friend said there were plans to get it repaired and “law enforcement is investigating”.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/antelope-island-bison-art-vandalism-0210-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"antelope-island-bison-art-vandalism-0210-ron-dudley\\"")
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I hope the King Family of Dixie County Florida\u00a0pays a steep price for their vandalism.<\/p>\n
After yesterday’s positive blog post I’m a little ashamed of myself for focusing on the negative today (the illegal camper and the\u00a0tagging, not the painted bison themselves), especially after watching the video clip (a Ted Talk given by National Geographic photographer DeWitt Jones<\/a>) posted in yesterday’s comments by my friend and fellow bird photographer Keith Bauer.<\/p>\n Perhaps I need to watch it a third time to be reminded to “change my lens and change my life” and celebrate what’s right with the world instead of focusing on the negative.\u00a0Given recent events on the world scene I’m finding that very difficult to do at the moment but it could be argued that times like these call for just that kind focusing adjustment.<\/p>\n If for no other reason than our emotional well-being.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most folks don’t know much about them but the “painted bison” have become an iconic symbol of Antelope Island.<\/p>\n