Coyote, 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?
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!
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore
Leopard, Serengeti National Park
Bobcat with Damaged Eye, Point Reyes National Seashore
Wildebeest Crossing Mara River, Serengeti National Park
Two Cheetahs Rest, Serengeti National Park
Mother Elephants and Calves, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore
Male African Lion, Serengeti National Park
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore
Elephants, Tarangire National Park
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore
Male Lion, Serengeti National Park
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore
Badger, Point Reyes National Seashore
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore
A coyote moves through a silage field on a dairy farm in Point Reyes National Seashore.
The Park Service allows silage growing on national park lands at Point Reyes. Not only that, but the Park Service allows beef ranchers and dairy farmers to live on the park lands year round, with their cattle, at discounted rents.
Silage mowing is a bit like hay mowing, except while hay is mowed when dry in the summer, silage is mowed when green in the spring. That’s when ground-nesting and near-ground nesting birds such as northern harriers, mallards, and various sparrow species are nesting in the silage fields. Mowing kills the nestlings and some adults. Ravens have learned to follow the mowers. They get all the injured and dead birds and rodents they can eat.
Neither the Park Service nor the dairies/ranches seem to care about the carnage even though killing the birds would appear to violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Superb Starling, Tarangire National Park
A Superb Starling
The European starling that we have here in the United States is not at the top of my birds list, but I do love the look of the superb starling. Well named. I saw this bird many times in Tanzania.
Leopard Lying Under Palm Tree, Serengeti
Leopard, Serengeti National Park
We saw this leopard lying under the palm tree two days in a row. We wondered if it was a female with newborn cubs. When we stopped on the third day, the leopard was gone and the palm tree trunk was lying in her place. Hopefully, the leopard wasn’t hit by the tree as it fell and any cubs survived uninjured. For a larger view click to go to my portfolio.
Black-headed Heron
Black-headed Heron; Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
When I saw this wading bird in Serengeti National Park I thought at first it was a great blue heron. But then I quickly noticed it was darker and more blue than the bird I know fairly well. This bird doesn’t have a black head in spite of its name, and the great blue heron does have a black top to its head. Anyway, they’re both handsome birds.
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore
Bobcat with Eye Injury
This is a much tighter crop than I would normally do, but I wanted to show you what appears to be a serious injury to this bobcat’s left eye. There is a black line that runs at a 45 degree angle in the eyeball. It may be blind in that eye. I’ve also seen two different badgers at Point Reyes with what seemed to have been serious eye injuries. One seemed to have no visible pupil in one eye and the other seemed to have no visible pupil in either eye. I assume the latter was totally blind. It had two cubs with it and it looked to be in good health.
I don’t know how these things happen, but one possibility is that they get poked in the eye by little bits of vegetation like broken branches or twigs.
