Cheetah

Cheetah, Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kenya

I’ve noticed that in my photos where a cheetah is walking, its ears are often pinned back.   I don’t know why that is.  Is it because it’s near me?  I don’t think so because when I photograph them sitting or lying down their ears aren’t pinned back.  FWIW, I googled what that means with our domestic cats and it can mean fear or aggression. I googled cheetah ears and found that cheetah is unique among the cat species in that its large inner ear helps it keep its eyes locked on prey even when sprinting.  But they are walking, not running, when I see their ears pinned back.  I have one possible theory.  Maybe it makes them a little less visible, especially in tall grass.  Any ideas?

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron, Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a great blue heron in Drakes Beach Lagoon wading through thick algae as it looks for minnows.

I was out at Point Reyes National Seashore last week and photographed this great blue heron.  It was fishing in what is a new lagoon next to the parking lot at Drakes Beach.  I understand it was developed a couple of years ago as mitigation for the widening of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard through East Schooner Creek, which is one of the few anadromous streams in the Seashore.  A lagoon may have existed here long ago.  It sits at the bottom of a drainage with a dairy farm, C Ranch, at the top of the drainage.   The constituents of cow manure include nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which cause algal blooms when they get into watercourses.  The water might also contain E coli.  Unless something is done about the manure in the upper drainage, the whole lagoon will probably be filled with algae in another year or two.   This heron looked like it was having trouble just wading around in the lagoon.   This ranching shouldn’t be happening on Park Service-owned land in a national park.