made in the shade

As mentioned in a previous post, it was sometimes difficult to distinguish the Buckster's motives, finding birds or finding a place to rest. His body language for birds or rest was very similar for both, with a degree of stiffer, more deliberate movements, intense sniffing and a telltale tail. Usually, his nose lead him in a certain direction and he would check markings along the way. Most of these markings were where birds may have been earlier in the day, ground roosts or feeding areas.

Sometimes, these tracking missions would take us on a long and circuitous route to a familiar resting spot. I usually didn't notice until I was almost at the spot and Starbuck was already there, resting. He was usually pretty intuitive about when we needed these stops, though as my lag time increased, it must have been pretty obvious to him.

The picture above was one of his favorites. This spot was one of the view that didn't have much of a view. It was intended to be more of a short, intermediate stop, one on the way to a better place for the lunch stop. As you can see, the shade is suspiciously sized to his body size and shape, not leaving much for the rest of the party (me). And, there is no other piece of shade for miles, only a bunch of smaller bushes and twigs sticking out of the ground in a relatively barren portion of the landscape. Hence, the only shade afforded me was that which was cast from my cap's visor; not much in the blistering tropic heat of the locale.

That's not to say he was insensitive. As he looked over from his oasis and noticed my predicament, he trotted over, turned around and dug a pile of cool earth onto my boots, the perfect dog solution to the problem at hand.