This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This is the female of the pair of western bluebirds nesting in one of our bird boxes. She has a habit of flying to our windows and those of our neighbor. Sometimes she bumps into the window with her breast and other times stops just short of hitting the window. I understand it’s a territorial thing, in that she sees her reflection and thinks it’s a rival. She does this many, many times each day. I’m wondering if she will ever realize it’s not another bird.
This is the female of the pair of western bluebirds nesting in one of our bird boxes. She has a habit of flying to our windows and those of our neighbor. She stops just short of hitting the windows, but she repeats this oddity numerous times throughout the day.
Here’s another Cooper’s Hawk (I think) in our back yard. I believe its meal was mourning dove.
I looked out our dining room window the other morning and saw this cooper’s hawk eating a mourning dove. I grabbed my big lens and tripod and stationed myself about 10 feet back from a sliding door. The hawk was about 30 feet from the door on a fence. First, I shot a few images through the side of the door that has no screen. Once I had a few of those shots, I kept my body hidden as I made my way to the sliding door and, exposing my arm only, I slowly slid open the glass door and then the screen door. It was dark and raining on and off. The light was very poor. I started shooting at 1/200 second at ISO 10,000. By the time I took this shot the light was good enough to get the ISO down to 1,000.
It’s hard to tell a cooper’s hawk from a sharp-shinned hawk because their markings are basically identical. They both prey mainly on smaller birds. They often occur in residential areas and have the same habit of keeping an eye on bird feeders. We don’t have feeders, but some of our neighbors may. In any event, we have birds in our yard regularly.
How have I concluded it’s a cooper’s hawk and not a sharp-shin? I’m not a bird ID expert. According to my Sibley bird guide, the cooper is 16.5 inches in length and the sharpie is 11 inches in length. A mourning dove is also 11 inches in length. This bird was much longer and larger than a mourning dove so I concluded it was a cooper’s hawk.
Some crows found the cooper and started pestering it, hoping to steal a meal. The cooper finally tired of the harassment and took off with its meal. Fortunately, it spent an hour on our fence before the crows drove it off.
Here is another photograph of that footbridge which crosses the Petaluma River in downtown Petaluma with some of the City’s historic buildings in the background. The previous photo was shot looking north. This photo was shot looking south. It was taken after sunset with three exposures to prevent the sky from being overexposed.
It looks like this oak tree is growing out of the rock. It isn’t of course. But they’ve shared the same spot for many years. They’ve seen many cows come and go.
The scene has been the subject of many photos. I think the first one I saw was by Lance Kuehne. You can see his vision of it here. Recently, I saw one by Marty Knapp. You can see his version, complemented by the moon, here.
You can find the scene a few miles west of Petaluma on the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road. It’s on the left side as you drive west. I drove by it many times on the way to Point Reyes National Seashore before I spotted it. I’d like to try shooting it again. A moon would be a nice addition. I think I’d move a little to the right and use a wider lens or stand farther back. It would be nice if the cows were there and arranged in the most aesthetically pleasing manner. Maybe I’ll do it. Maybe.
I took a drive yesterday looking for lambs to photograph and struck out again. I did see some goats, however. This kid was with its mother and two siblings. The kids moved away as I approached them, but the mother had no fear of me. She put as much of her head through the woven wire fence as she could, probably hoping for a treat.
Goats are closely related to sheep. They reach puberty as early as three months. While they have been used for their milk, meat, hair and sinew for eons, they have become popular as pets in recent times.
Goats are browsers, like deer, not grazers like sheep and cattle. They have a reputation for eating almost anything including tin cans and cardboard, but they are fairly particular about what they actually eat. They are very curious and that appears to be what causes them to eat the labels off of tin cans and to taste cardboard. Their curiosity and intelligence make them very difficult to contain. They will constantly test enclosures and often mange to escape. They are also very good climbers like their wild cousins.
