Jim Coda Nature Photography

June 13, 2021June 13, 2021Coyote

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a coyote in the ranching area of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Coyote in the Ranching Area of Point Reyes National Seashore.

This coyote is standing in a ranch pasture at Point Reyes National Seashore. Between now and July 14, the Park Service is going to decide which of six alternatives to adopt for management of 28,000 acres of land owned by the Park Service/United States at Point Reyes National Seashore and the adjacent Golden Gate NRA and dedicated for decades to private ranching. The preferred alternative is to expand the ranching, especially for 18 of the 24 ranching families who live on park land with their families and employees – at subsidized rents no less. Life is going to get a lot more complicated then for the coyotes, bobcats, and the other mammalian and avian predators that live there.

The preferred alternative will provide, among other things, that each of the 18 occupied cattle ranches can also have up to 50 sheep with their lambs or 70 goats with their kids, plus 500 free-roaming chickens which will be in the pastures during the day and in mobile coops at night. Now, the ranchers can only have beef and dairy cows, which are way too big for any Point Reyes predator to bother. These small domestic animals will be protected by livestock guardian dogs which are capable of killing coyotes and the other predators.

The leases will provide that ranchers can’t kill or harm predators. However, the leases also provide that where predation occurs, the rancher can report it to the Park Service and the Park Service will decide what action to take. If NPS says “no” to killing, what’s a rancher to do? Well, there’s the old “3S’s” maxim – shoot, shovel and shut up.

And you thought national park units were established for the protection and preservation of nature, including wildlife. Guess again. What predominates in the National Park Service thinking is maximizing tourism (especially for concessioners) and emphasizing viewsheds for those tourists. What is living in those viewsheds has never been on the Park Service’s radar. Most former Park Service employees will tell you this or, if you don’t know one, read this book by a retired NPS employee, “Preserving Nature in the National Parks” by Richard Sellars.

January 1, 2020January 1, 2020African Lion, Bald Eagle, Cows, Coyote, Eagle, elephant, Elk, Favorite Images, Guanaco, Landscape, Lion, Point Reyes National Seashore, Red Fox, San Francisco, Serengeti National Park, Torres del Paine National Park, Tule Elk

Favorite Blog Photos of 2019

Here are some of my favorite photos that I blogged about in 2019.

This is a photo of a bull tule elk feeding at sunset. A bull tule elk feeds at sunset inside the elk enclosure at Point Reyes National Seashore.

At Point Reyes National Seashore 400-500 elk are kept locked up behind an 8-foot tall woven-wire fence to keep them away from the ranchers who live on and control 28,000 acres of park land and raise 6,000 dairy cows, beef cattle and sheep. NPS bought their ranches decades ago, but never removed them. The 28,000 acres are managed as the ranchers want, not as lands in a national park are supposed to be managed. I know of no other national park where wildlife is locked up like in a zoo for the visitors to see.

This is a night photo of the San Francisco skyline with Angel Island in the foreground and Alcatraz in the midground. A night view of Angel Island, Alcatraz and San Francisco.

Photo of some mountain peaks and fog at dawn in Torres del Paine National Park Mountains and fog at dawn in Torres del Paine National Park

This is a photo of a mother guanaco and her young before sunrise in Torres del Paine National Park. A mother guanaco and her chulengo appear before sunrise in Torres del Paine National Park.

Red Fox Vixen with Snowshoe Hare A red fox mom returns to her den with an arctic hare to feed her kits in Yellowstone National Park.

This is a photo of three lionesses who are on the hunt. One is wearing a research collar. Three lionesses are on the hunt in Serengeti National Park.

This is a photo of a mature bald eagle perched on a limb. A bald eagle perches on a limb in Alaska.

This is a photo of a male elephant walking away from a wetland in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. A male elephant walks near a wetland in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

Photo of female lion surveying her domain in Serengeti National Park. An African lioness surveys her domain in Serengeti National Park.

A coyote stops and looks at the camera in Point Reyes Seashore just before the sun sets. A coyote stops just before sunset as it travels across a ranch pasture in Point Reyes National Seashore.

The National Park Service purchased the ranches several decades ago, but it has never made the ranchers leave.

A bald eagle lands too close to another and gets bitten in the neck. One bald eagle bites another at Homer, Alaska.

Photo of a coyote on a ranch pasture in Point Reyes National Seashore. A coyote walks across a ranch pasture full of non-native European grasses in Point Reyes Seashore.

The National Park Service prioritizes private ranching over wildlife in Point Reyes National Seashore. This is the worst example of privatizing a national park that I am aware of. It involves 28,000 acres of national park land. If anyone knows of a worse example, please let me know.

March 26, 2019March 26, 2019Coyote

Blue-Eyed Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a coyote that has blue eyes.

Blue-eyed Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

I saw that blue-eyes coyote again with the damaged left eye a week ago. The last time I photographed him was about two months ago. He seems to be doing well. I’ve wondered if he is the only blue-eyed coyote at Point Reyes.

This is a photo of a blue-eyed coyote in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Blue-eyed Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

With his left eye the way it is, there’s no chance of thinking that he might be a second blue-eyed coyote there.

February 12, 2019February 12, 2019Coyote, Uncategorized

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

A coyote stops and looks at the camera in Point Reyes Seashore just before the sun sets.

A Coyote Stops on a Ranch Pasture Just Before Sunset.

This coyote was crossing a ranch pasture with his mate when he stopped and looked at me.

January 22, 2019January 22, 2019Coyote

Blue-eyed Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

There was a photo in the news several months ago about a blue-eyed coyote at Point Reyes. The photo was taken by my friend, Daniel Dietrich who runs Point Reyes Safaris, or one of his clients. I look for it when I’m out there.

Just for the fun of it, a few days days ago I modified a photo of a coyote I photographed recently by giving it blue eyes. See my post a few days ago.

I think I’ve seen “Blue Eyes” once or twice, but I never made a positive ID because I never got a close enough view of it. As luck would have it, recently I did. See the photos below. The first image was taken at relatively close range. The second photo is just a crop of the first image. It seems to have some damage to its left eye.

In the third photo the coyote was a bit farther away and it becomes harder at that distance to tell for sure if the eyes are blue.

Looking back at the blue-eyed coyote that I created in Photoshop a few days ago, I have to say that without having the real one as a reference, I came pretty close to the blue eyes of the real blue-eyed coyote.

There is some discussion of blue-eyed coyotes on the internet.

I hope you’ve read this far because this whole discussion of the coyote’s eyes made me realize something I never realized before. I think I’m right about this because I just went through all the bird and mammal eyes on my website and the human eye is totally different from the eyes of all those birds and animals. I didn’t find any bird or mammal with any part of the visible eye that was white. They were all either all black or they had black pupils inside irises that covered all of the rest of the visible portion of the eye. Our irises are tiny in comparison to theirs and most of the visible portion of our eyes are white. Why is that? So, I googled it. Here’s one explanation: “Only humans obviously show the whites of their eyes, making it easier to communicate and deceive at a glance”. For more click here.

This is a photo of the face of a blue-eyed coyote.

Blue-eyed Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

This photo is a close shot of a blue-eyed coyote.

Apparent Injury to Left Eye

This is a distance sot of a blue-eyed coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore.

It’s difficult to see blue eyes at normal viewing distance.

January 15, 2019January 22, 2019Coyote

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a coyote on a ranch pasture in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Coyote Crossing Ranch Pasture

Here’s a coyote crossing a ranch pasture in Point Reyes National Seashore. I took one out-of-the-ordinary step in my workflow. What did I do?

December 26, 2018December 14, 2019African Lion, Badger, Bobcat, Cheetah, Coyote, Favorite Images, Leopard, Lion, Point Reyes National Seashore, Serengeti National Park, Wildebeests

Some of My Favorite Images from 2018

Back in late 2007 a photographer by the name of Jim Goldstein invited other photographers to do blogs showing their 10 best photographs of that year and to send him a link to their blogs which he would then add to a list of the blogs of all who were participating. It was a great service to all who appreciated good photography. It gave me a handy list of photographers (mostly nature photographers) so I could easily look at what they were doing and how my work compared to theirs. I participated a couple of times, but somehow forgot about it. I saw a notice about it recently and decided to participate again.

2018 for me was highlighted by a trip to Tanzania hosted by the African Wildlife Foundation (Craig Sholley) and Nature’s Best Photography (Jeff Vanuga). They hired Thomson Safaris to deliver all the necessary services such as camps, food, drivers etc. All three were superb. I also made my regular trips to Point Reyes National Seashore, which is a short drive from my home.

Jim Goldstein used to ask that you list your 10 “best” photos. The limit of 10 was not strictly followed by most and Jim seems to have de-emphasized it nowadays. Picking what you think are your “best” photos is not easy. So, below is a list of “some” of my “favorite” photos of 2018 in no particular order.

Finally, Jim’s list of links won’t be out until about the second week in January and when it comes out I’ll insert a link here. here it is: https://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2019/01/08/photos-2018-jmggalleries-blog-readers/

For now, you can go to his blog touting the 2018 round and linking to all the previous rounds all the way back to 2007 by clicking here. Thanks Jim!

A healthy-looking coyote moves through a ranch pasture.