Category: Other Bird

Other Bird

Raven Nest, Yellowstone National Park

Young ravens scream for more food.
“Feed me”!

I was driving through the Golden Gate area of Yellowstone on May 24, 2015, scanning the cliffs for mountain goats as I drove.  I didn’t see any goats (as is usually the case), but did see this nest of ravens.  The babies were small (and with few feathers), but I made a mental note to check on them every time I drove through there for the rest of my stay in Yellowstone.   The last time I saw them was June 14, a few days before I headed home.  This photo was taken June 3.  Believe it or not, there are six of these little ravens in the nest.  These three just happened to be the most hungry when I shot this photo.  Note the blue eyes common to young animals.

I don’t enter photo contests very often because it is hard to win when there are thousands of entries, at least in the most prestigious ones, and judging is, understandably, very subjective.  However, I decided to enter the 2015 Yellowstone Forever Photo Contest put on by Nature’s Best Photography Magazine and the Yellowstone Park Foundation because Yellowstone is my favorite place and I have lots of images from there.  There were 11,000 entries from 31 countries.  This raven nest photo was awarded an Honorable Mention as was the black bear spring cub below.

Black Bear Spring Cub, Yellowstone
“Hey, I’m pretty big when I stand up”!

Two friends, Max Waugh and Daniel Dietrich, were also awarded honorable mentions.  In fact, Max won seven honorable mentions!  Click here for a list of all the winners and honorable mentions.

There are several reasons I tend to not enter many nature photo contests.  The first reason is that entering takes a lot of time and the odds of winning are very low because there are thousands of entries.  The odds are also low because of the subjective nature of judging. Art can’t be judged objectively.

Another reason is that some (but not the Nature’s Best contest) are designed to be rights grabs.  By that I mean they charge you to enter and they provide in the fine print that they can use your photos for any purpose with no compensation to you.  Think about that.  Instead of you getting paid by for the commercial  use of your photo, you in effect pay them to use it when you enter the contest!   What a great way for a magazine to get many years’ worth of photos without having to pay for them!  Read the fine print before you enter a contest!

Yet another reason I pass on most nature photography contests is because they strictly follow photojournalism standards.  In other words, the photo has to be a faithful representation of the original scene, except dust spotting, cropping, exposure changes and color balance are usually allowed because they were practiced in the film/darkroom days.  I have had to pass on entering many photos I like because a little twig is in the way of a clear facial shot.  I wish the dust spot exception were expanded a little to allow the removal of the twig that crosses an animal’s face.  Another solution would be to have an “artistic” category in contests where some manipulation is allowed.  After all, we are way past film and darkrooms.  Photoshop rules and I think nature photography contests need to recognize that.  If an artist were painting the same scene, you can be sure that little twig would never make it onto the canvas.

There are other concerns I have about nature photography contests, such as use of captive subjects and baiting, but I’ll save those topics for another day.

Other Bird

Our Tree Swallow Nest Box

Hungry Tree Swallow Chick
Hungry Chick

Our tree swallow chicks fledged today, June 18, Father’s Day.  I knew they were getting close to leaving the nest box, so on Friday and Saturday I spent some time photographing the parents feeding the young.  I missed seeing them leave the nest.

The adults are very fast and agile flyers.  They are to winged insects what peregrine falcons are to most bird species.

I think of them just catching bugs in the air, but I realized in watching them with the telephoto lens that they get vegetation attached to them by apparently also flying into heavy vegetation. The male had a twig sticking out of the right side of his neck and the female had vegetation stuck in her tail.   Fortunately, the vegetation on each came off after a while.  I was worried that the male had impaled himself to some extent, but he finally came in on a feeding run without the stick.

We’ve had the nest box for 6 years and swallows have used it every year.  Unfortunately, all the chicks died last year.   I spoke with a song bird expert and was told that lots of tree swallow nests were unsuccessful last year because of the drought.   Apparently, the dry conditions caused a big drop in insect populations.

Other Bird

California Quail, Point Reyes National Seashore

A male California quail perches on an old post.
Bad Hair Day

I was in the Seashore several days ago. It was nice most of the day, but later the wind came up and then the fog rolled in.  Nearby Inverness was predicted to have sunny weather all day and when I left Inverness it was still sunny.  Memo to self:  Don’t rely on the Inverness weather report for what it’s like inside the Seashore.

Badger, Bobcat, Coyote, Other Bird

A Day at Point Reyes National Seashore

I was out at Point Reyes two days ago.  It was a very good day.  I saw and photographed multiple bobcats and coyotes.

Photo of a bobcat stalking its prey.
Bobcat Stalking Prey

This bobcat was hunting gophers.  Bobcats use their paws to catch gophers in their burrows.  Their mouths are not designed to fit into the narrow space of a gopher burrow.  Their paws are also fairly large in relation to the size of a gopher burrow.  Based on my observations, I would say their batting average is fairly low.

Photo of a coyote at Point Reyes.
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

Coyotes use their mouths to catch rodents in their burrows.  They don’t have sharp, retractable claws and don’t seem disadvantaged in that regard.  That long slender snout seems built for the task.  Based on my observations, they have a much higher batting average than bobcats in catching rodents in the top of their burrows. This coyote was with its mate and another individual.

While I’m always happy to get the opportunity to photograph bobcats and coyotes, what made the day really special was seeing and photographing a peregrine falcon and a badger.  I don’t get many opportunities to photograph either of them.

Photo of a peregrine falcon on a post.
Scanning the Area

I don’t know if this is a female or an immature or both.  Its markings were not as nice as the peregrine I posted here.   However, I’m always happy to photograph a peregrine.

Photo of a badger at Point Reyes.
Badger Wakes Up from Siesta

Badgers are very nocturnal so it’s always a treat to spot one.  The recent rains have created damp, dark soil which stands out when a badger digs up areas where there are good populations of gophers.  I also love the rich greens of the grasses at this time of year.  Everything has been brown this winter until we got some decent rains in the past few weeks.  For those that don’t know, California is suffering from the worst drought in history.

Coyote, Grizzly Bear, Other Bird, Pronghorn

My 10 Favorite Wildlife Photos of 2012

About a year ago I posted a blog with my 10 favorite wildlife photos from 2011.  Here are my 10 favorites for 2012.  Most of this year’s photos are from Yellowstone.

Photo of a female red fox with her kits.
Mom and the Kids

Finding and photographing this red fox vixen and her two kits was the best part of my trip to Yellowstone last spring.

Photo of red fox kits at play.
Fox Kits at Play

Baby animals are usually photogenic and these two certainly were.

Photo of pringhorn doe nursing her fawn.
Feeding Time

While on the subject of baby animals, this doe pronghorn kept her two fawns right around the Roosevelt Arch for a week or more.  They stopped a lot of cars.

Photo of a young grizzly bear.
A Grizzly Daydreams

This grizzly bear spent several days in May on the slopes above Yellowstone’s Soda Butte Creek feeding on grass, roots and whatever other vegetative material grizzlies feed on in the spring.

Photo of a grizzly bear.
Sad Looking Young Grizzly

I spent a fair amount of time photographing this bear.  It often looked sad to me.  I think it was a young bear and perhaps it was its first spring without its mother.

Photo of a mountain bluebird on a sage plant.
Mountain Bluebird on Sage

I always see mountain bluebirds in Yellowstone in the spring, but until this past May I’ve never really had any good opportunities to photograph them.  They seem to be constantly on the move.  This May was different.  They hung around.

Photo of a sandhill crane standing in a patch of sage.
A sandhill crane hunts in the sage.

There are always some sandhill cranes in Yellowstone in the nesting season.  They usually tend to be far off though.  You often hear them calling before you even spot them.  I was lucky here.

Photo of a male yellow-headed blackbird singing for a mate.
Love-sick Yellow-headed Blackbird, Yellowstone National Park

I don’t recall  ever having seen a yellow-headed blackbird in Yellowstone before this spring.  This male was singing to attract a mate I assume.  I spotted him while driving the road to the Slough Creek Campground.

Photo of white-crowned sparrow.
White-crowned Sparrow, Point Reyes National Seashore

There are a lot of white-crowned sparrows in Point Reyes National Seashore in the winter.  This male saved what was otherwise an uneventful day.

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a coyote staring at the camera.
Coyote Portrait

The coyotes I see in the ranching areas of Point Reyes are pretty wild.   By that I mean they don’t stick around when they see a human.  This individual was different.  He was comfortable with my photographing him.  He may have previously lived in an area with heavy human recreation use.

Point Reyes is my local Yellowstone.  It has a wide variety of wildlife considering where it is located.  No bison or moose, but it has elk and deer.  No wolves or bears, but it has coyotes, bobcats, badgers and one or more mountain lions.  You’ll see elk as easily as in Yellowstone and deer more easily.   You’ll see coyotes as easily as in Yellowstone and bobcats much more easily.

Well, that’s it.  My 10 favorites for 2012.  If you’d like to see my 10 favorites for 2011 click here.

Other Bird

White-crowned Sparrow, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of white-crowned sparrow.
Chimney Rock Sparrow

I was out at Point Reyes yesterday afternoon.  The afternoons go by pretty quickly this time of year. I should be getting there at first light.  I saw a coyote and a bobcat, but neither rewarded me with a very good photo.  The bobcat decided to see how low he could lie in the grass and the coyote chose to walk in an area that didn’t provide a very good background.    I was hopeful of seeing a badger, but had no luck there as usual.

The more common wildlife like elk, deer and birds often save the day.  So it was yesterday.  There were a lot of white-crowned sparrows near the Chimney Rock parking lot.  This guy, and some of his kin, took turns posing for me for a while.

Other Bird

Yellow-headed Blackbird, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of a male yellow-headed blackbird singing for a mate.
Singing for a Mate

When I drove out to the Lamar Valley each day this past May I would usually check out the road to the Slough Creek campground.  It’s a good drive for finding bison, pronghorns and coyotes in the spring.  It’s also a prime area for wolves and grizzlies.  I would often see this male yellow-headed blackbird as I drove past a small marshy area along the road.

Yellow-heads are a little smaller than their red-winged cousins and not as common.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before in Yellowstone.  I know I’ve never photographed one there before.