This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This bobcat was hunting gophers. Gophers are plentiful at Point Reyes, at least in the agricultural areas. They are an important food source for coyotes, bobcats, badgers and other predators at the Seashore. If this bobcat could talk he would probably say there is no such thing as too many gophers.
I’ve been spending a fair amount of time photographing at Point Reyes the last six months or so and hadn’t seen a badger until the other day when I spotted this one taking a rest on its diggings. For much of that period I wasn’t really focusing on looking for badgers, but after having a fair amount of success with my main interests, coyotes and bobcats, I decided recently to concentrate on looking for badgers. I was pleasantly surprised at how soon I spotted this badger. When I was in areas that had obvious badger activity I made sure I focused my attention on any signs of fresh badger diggings and on nothing else. Having said that, I’m sure luck was still the biggest part of the equation.
Some cows were grazing their way into its path and it decided to head underground to avoid getting stepped on. But for the cows I would probably have only gotten shots of the badger at rest. Unfortunately, it didn’t come up again before it got too dark to photograph. I came by the next morning at sunrise, but it wasn’t visible. It may have moved on, but I think it was underground. There were so many gophers making themselves visible while the badger was taking its rest that I doubt it needed to move on by the morning to find more food.
January 28, 20011. Two bull elk face each other before a post-rut sparring session.
They went at it for quite a while. There was a winner and I think they’ll each remember that. There won’t be much more fighting now because the bulls are dropping their antlers. However, come the next rut these two will probably go at it again.
Here is an ear-tagged cow elk. She is one of almost 500 elk at the Tule Elk Preserve at Tomales Point. There is an identifying number on her right ear tag. The other tag was inserted in the opposite direction. I don’t know for sure why that was done, but I’m assuming it has the same identifying number and was inserted that way so the identifying number would be visible from the rear of the animal. This herd has not increased in size for some time and therefore seems to be self-regulating. The other herd, the Limantour Herd, numbers about 100 animals.
In my last post regarding a bobcat I mentioned I saw a pair of coyotes. It was the first time I’d seen a pair of coyotes in Point Reyes National Seashore. I saw them again yesterday. I think they are a mated pair. The one on the right is very light colored, almost white. Assuming I’m right that they are a mated pair, I assume the light one is the female based on its smaller size. It is mating season, so I assume they will produce a litter of pups this spring. I would love to photograph the pups.
At first I was reluctant to post this photo. It’s not a very good photograph. However, I decided to post it because it is mating season and because of the unusually light color of the one I think is the female.
I spotted this male bobcat hunting when I was out at Point Reyes a few days ago. I saw him miss on two attempts at what I assume were gophers. In addition to this guy, I saw four coyotes, including two that were paired up. As you can see, some areas are very green now.
Just before sunset, a bull elk looks across a field and sees another one of those creatures with only two legs.
This is one of the biggest bulls I’ve seen at Point Reyes. A large Tule elk bull will weigh about 600 pounds. While that may seem fairly heavy, Roosevelt (AKA Olympic) bull elk, which inhabit coastal forests from Northern California up into British Columbia, can weigh more than 1,000 pounds. The Rocky Mountain (AKA American) elk splits the difference. A Rocky Mountain bull elk can weigh up to 800 pounds. Rocky Mountain elk are by far the most numerous.
