Tag: marin county

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My Jackrabbit Friend

Profile photo of jackrabbit
Black-tail Jackrabbit, Marin County, California

A couple of months ago I spent some time photographing birds in our garden.  It didn’t take long before I noticed that a jackrabbit spent a lot of time there.   I had never noticed it before, but when you spend hours in one spot, without moving, you start to see things that you wouldn’t see otherwise.   I think it was a young jackrabbit because it loved to run back and forth across the garden, apparently full of pent-up energy.  I remember acting like that myself on occasion, but that was a long time ago.    My furry friend seemed very healthy.  It had no ticks in its ears as rabbits often do.  I haven’t spent any time in the garden photographing lately.  I hope my little friend is still there.

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How Smart Are Swallows?

Several years ago I went flyfishing in Lake Almanor for smallmouth bass.   As I rowed toward the dam in my pontoon boat I noticed there was a lot of noise and activity at the dam.  Swallows were circling the cylindrical dam in large numbers and there were crows flying through the swallows toward the dam’s face.  I rowed closer to see what was going on.  The crows were flying into the side of the dam feet first.  As I got closer I saw what was happening.  The crows were crashing into the mud nests of the swallows and grabbing the chicks from the smashed nests.  The swallows were powerless to stop it.  I’m pretty sure the crows destroyed all the nests and got all the young.  It was one of those moments in nature when my emotions really get aroused.  I know the crows need to eat, but I still felt sorry for the swallows.  I wondered if the swallows would nest there again or find some other place.  I never went back to find out.

Fast forward several years.  I got a tip that there was a great horned owl nest on a ledge of an old building near my house.   I went there and sure enough there was a nest.  I was told that a pair of owls has been nesting there for years.  Here is a photo of one of the adults and the three young on the nest.

Photo of a great horned owl and its owlets.
Great Horned Owl Parent and Owlets, Marin County, California.  I wonder what the one owlet is saying to the other?

I photographed the owls at the nest for nearly a month.  I don’t remember now how long it took me to realize that there were many swallow nests near the owl nest because I was pretty absorbed by the owl family.  It was probably when the swallow chicks had hatched and the parents were frequently flying to and from the nests feeding their young.  Here’s a photo of some swallows and their nests immediately under the owl nest.

Photo of cliff swallow nests below great horned owl nest.
Cliff swallows nest below a great horned owl nest.

Anyway, at some point a light bulb went on in my head.  Great horned owls eat crows.   They love them.   What I have wondered since then is whether the swallows were smart enough to build their mud nests near the great horned owl nest because they thought building them there would protect their nests from crows or was it just a coincidence?    I don’t know, but I like to think they are intelligent enough to nest there for their own safety’s sake.  There were no attempts by any crows to attack the nests. This crow was the only one I saw that came anywhere near the swallow nests. He’s about 25 yards from the nests.

American crow sits atop ornamental evergreen.
American crow sitting atop an evergreen.
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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.