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Another Bobcat

I decided to go out to Point Reyes National Seashore last Friday to see what was going on there.  My main hope was to get a good photo of a bobcat.    I don’t think I’ve been out there since late June when I was fortunate enough to see and photograph one.  Not long after leaving the house I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.  It was a bobcat sitting in a farm field.

A Bobcat sits in a field in Marin County, California
Bobcat, Marin County, California

Lucky me.  I wanted to stop, but couldn’t.  The road’s shoulders were steep and narrow and there were cars going in both directions.  I drove about a quarter mile to where I could turn around and drove back. The bobcat was still sitting there.  I drove past it to a spot where I could pull off the road.  Some trees screened me from the bobcat.  I usually don’t assemble my gear until I get to Point Reyes.  My gear was all neatly stowed away and I’d have to pull the big lens out, attach the Tele-converter and camera body to it and then attach my Wimberley head to the tripod and extend its legs and attach the camera/lens to it.  I also noticed I hadn’t put a flash card in the camera.   (Good thing I noticed that then.)  After what seemed like forever I had everything together and walked quietly along the trees to where they ended hoping the bobcat would still be there.  It was.  I shot several frames before the bobcat turned and looked at me.  It let me shoot about 30 more frames and then decided that it didn’t like the fact that I was staring at it and not moving.  It finally decided it had had enough of me and split.

It was a good day regardless of what I’d see at Point Reyes.  As I drove on to Point Reyes I vowed to be ready to photograph when I left home from now on.  That bobcat could have moved on while I was fumbling with my gear.  Next time it could be the holy grail — a mountain lion.  One was spotted near here a year ago.

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Oddities of Nature

Have you ever seen something in nature that struck you as odd?  In May of 2009 I saw something that I thought was very odd.  I was driving into Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley from the west and off to my right not far from the Lamar River I saw a large nest atop a dead tree.   My first thought was that it was probably an osprey nest or maybe a bald eagle nest.  I slowed down and pulled over.   I could see there was something in the nest, but it was too far to see what it was exactly.  I decided to grab my big lens and tripod and hike closer to the nest.  After a bit I stopped.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.   It looked like a Canada goose.   I looked through my lens.  It was a Canada goose.

A Canada goose sits in a raptor nest in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley.
A Canada goose sits in a raptor nest in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley.

This was a new one for me.  Canada geese nest on the ground, usually in wetlands.  What was this one doing up in a raptor’s nest?  Maybe it had learned the hard way that eggs laid on the ground in the Lamar Valley don’t last long.  I checked every day for over a week and there was always a goose in the nest.  There had to be eggs there.  Will the eggs fare better in a raptor’s nest at the top of a tall tree?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, Canada geese don’t feed their young like birds of prey do.  The goslings will have to get down to the ground and to the river soon after they hatch.  I know some waterfowl species like wood ducks nest in tree cavities and the young drop down to the ground, but this is a very tall tree and the branches extend well away from the trunk, especially in the lower portion of the tree outside the framing of the image.  Finally, how will they walk across all those branches with their webbed feet?

Osprey in Nest at Tree Top in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley
An osprey is back in possession of the raptor nest a year later.

When I returned to Yellowstone in May of this year I looked to the nest as I entered Lamar Valley.  There was a bird in it again.  This time it was an osprey.

I’ve often wondered what happened to the offspring of the Canada geese.  Did the eggs survive to hatching?  If so, did the goslings make it safely down the tree and to the river?  I guess I’ll never know.

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Anniversary of Delisting of Bald Eagle

One bald eagle bites another.
One Bald Eagle Bites Another.

Today is the third anniversary of the removal of the Bald Eagle from the Endangered Species List.  This is one of the greatest success stories under the Endangered Species Act.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out this way.

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A Day at Point Reyes National Seashore

I went out to Point Reyes recently.  My friend Jeff joined me.  We hoped to find some owls and bluebirds to photograph.  We found this adult great horned owl and its mate and three young which we had seen before.  No luck with bluebirds.

A great horned owl roosts on a limb.
Great Horned Owl, Point Reyes National Seashore

Canon 500mm f/4, Canon 1.4 TC, Canon 7D

After a couple of hours Jeff decided to head back to his home in Inverness.  I decided to drive up to Pierce Point.  I saw some big bull elk there, but they were in a canyon and getting any decent photos of them would have involved a long, steep hike.  Not today.  I checked for bluebirds at that end, but didn’t see any.  I saw a couple of red-tailed hawks getting harassed by some ravens, but decided not to try for them.  I also saw signs of badger activity, but no badgers.

Driving back I saw something that looked like it might be a bobcat.  It was lying in some tall, light-colored vegetation.  I stopped.  It was about 40 yards away on the passenger side of the truck and almost completely obstructed by vegetation.  I was going to have to get out of the truck with my lens and tripod.  I slowly and quietly got out and set up my tripod and lens.  Fortunately, the bobcat hadn’t moved.  This wasn’t going to work.  There was too much vegetation between us for a decent photo.

A bobcat is lying down in tall grass.
Bobcat in the Grass, Point Reyes National Seashore

Canon 500mm f/4, Canon 1.4 TC, Canon 7D.

The bobcat didn’t seem too anxious to move.  I decided to wait him or her out.  I checked my gear and found I only had 11 exposures left on the card.   Glad I caught that.  After about 20 or 30 minutes the bobcat decided it was time to go.  It headed north parallel to the road and I quickly lost sight of it in the tall grass and brush.  I walked up the road and saw it had stopped behind a bush.   I waited for it to move and this time it took a step or two and then continued north.  This is the best image I got.

Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore

Canon 500mm f/4, Canon 1.4 TC, Canon 7D

Foiled by vegetation (again).   This is the fourth time I’ve photographed a bobcat in west Marin and each time has been frustrating.  They are beautiful animals.  Hopefully, some day I will get a good photo of one.  Look at how muscular its upper back and shoulders are.  They also have very long and muscular hind legs which is not so noticeable until you get a clear view of one sitting.

As I’ve said before in this blog, Yellowstone is my favorite place to photograph wildlife.  However, it’s nice to have places like Point Reyes nearby.

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A Week at Blacktail Pond (Continued from Yesterday)

Yesterday’s post ended with mama bear attacking her cub.  While I said that I thought it was probably because she was agitated over the wolf having been at the carcass, there is more to it than that.  The cub is 2 years old (actually 21/2 years old) and from mom’s point of view it’s about time for the cub to hit the road.  Biologically, she’s ready to mate again.  This fact is not lost on nearby male grizzlies.  Here is one suitor who has come calling.  The cub moved off when he came on the scene.

A grizzly sow and boar stand near a bison carcass in Blacktail Pond.
Grizzly Sow and Boar, Yellowstone National Park

The next time I saw the sow and boar they were in the act of mating a bit beyond the pond.  The cub was in the vicinity of the pond, but making sure it kept a good distance between itself and the boar.

As I mentioned before, there were other scavengers who benefited from the misfortune of the two bison.  One was a coyote who got some meat from the carcass on the east side of the pond and promptly left.  It probably felt that with grizzlies and wolves around it could find a better place to enjoy a meal than at Blacktail.

A coyote leaves Blacktail Pond with some meat from one of the bison that died in Blacktail Pond.
Coyote, Yellowstone National Park

I mentioned earlier that bald eagles and ravens also benefited from the misfortune of the bison.  I wasn’t sure I had any photos of them, but I looked and found one.

A raven harasses a bald eagle as it leaves Blacktail Pond.
Raven and Bald Eagle, Yellowstone National Park

This photo was quite underexposed probably due to the surface of the pond.  It also has some noise.  Note the blood on the beak of the eagle.

In addition to the wildlife, Yellowstone visitors benefited from the demise of the bison.  The Blacktail Pond area was crowded with visitors, and photographers in particular, for more than a week.

For the most part, these photos were taken under less than ideal conditions due to poor lighting and excessive distance.   The bear and wolf photos were shot at about 175 yards.   In my experience you can’t get good quality images at that distance.  The equipment used was as follows:  Canon 500mm f/4 lens; Canon 1.4 TC; Canon 7D.  I should also mention a book I have found to be very valuable in understanding bears in general and Yellowstone’s in particular.  The book is “Yellowstone Bears In the Wild.”  The author is James C. Halfpenny.  You can find it at almost any book store.  If you’re in Gardiner, Montana, you can pick up a copy of Jim’s book at The Paradise Gallery.  If you go there, you should also check out the wildlife photos on display by several wildlife photographers, including yours truly.

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A Week at Yellowstone’s Blacktail Pond

As I mentioned in my last blog, there were two bison carcasses in Blacktail Pond in the spring of 2010.  The first scavenger I saw there was a coyote who was standing on the carcass which was in the water next to the east edge of the pond.  However, it was the carcass in a narrow channel on the west side of the pond that became the center of attention for scavengers as well as park visitors.  The first species I saw feeding on that carcass was a grizzly sow with a two-year-old cub.  Here the cub nuzzles its mother.  It’s May 20.

A grizzly cub nuzzles its mother at Blacktail Pond.
Grizzly Sow and Cub, Yellowstone National Park

The sow and cub stayed on a ridge above Blacktail when they weren’t feeding on the carcass.  Another animal that I saw feeding on the carcass more than once was a lone wolf.  Here he is the next day standing at the narrow channel.  The bison carcass has slipped back into the water and is just under the surface.

A gray wolf stands on the edge of Blacktail Pond.
Gray Wolf, Yellowstone National Park

This wolf worked as hard as the bears to pull the carcass out of the pond and I was surprised that he seemed to get the carcass about as far out of the pond as the much larger bears, although in fairness to the sow she might have done better without her cub’s help because he always pulled at right angles to mom.

One afternoon the wolf howled after feeding which brought the sow and cub running full speed from the ridge above the pond.  Here is a photo of mom and cub right after they arrive at the carcass.  She is really “amped up,” over the wolf’s howls.  When the cub approached the carcass as she was trying to pull it up on the bank she attacked it.  More to follow.

A mother grizzly attacks her cub near a bison carcass at Blacktail pond.
Grizzly Sow Attacks Cub, Yellowstone National Park.