What is known as Murphy's Law--if anything could go wrong, it will--in the English language roughly translates as "the law of wickedness" into Russian.

In the world of wildlife photography, this means that whenever I step outside without the camera, I come across animals that I don't normally see. This was the case with a stunning and large pileated woodpecker that seems to have the penchant for showing up on my dog walks when I happen to be "unequipped," for instance.

As a result, most of the time when I don't plan to shoot, I still walk around like this:

Whereas deer in the Rockies are certainly not unexpected, I was actually happy to see this young buck. I recognized him immediately thanks to his broken antler, and he has really grown over the summer!

Turned into a rather noble-looking animal, in fact:

Now I just hope that elusive avian cardinal makes a comeback!