This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
Two Cheetahs Rest
These two cheetahs were resting under a tree along the border with Kenya. It’s often hot in Tanzania and a good place to look for cheetahs and lions is under trees. For a larger version of this image, go to my portfolio.
I went to Point Reyes a couple of days ago. It had been a while. When I arrived I quickly spotted a bobcat. It was too far to photograph so I waited a bit to see if it would move my way. It didn’t so I drove on. I quickly spotted another a short distance past the first one. See photo above. He looked like a bobcat I used to see and photograph frequently on another ranch in 2011. I decided to try to get closer to him. Just as that thought came to mind a coyote moved into view behind the bobcat. I focused on the coyote and it was quickly joined by another. And then another. That’s right, a pack of coyotes. I’ve seen three coyotes together several times before at Point Reyes and assume these guys are the ones I’ve seen previously. Usually, I only see a single coyote.
I wondered whether the bobcat saw them and so pulled my eye away from the camera back to look at him. He certainly had. He was doing a fast crawl toward me and my car and his belly was almost touching the ground. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to photograph him as he was already very close to the rear of my car. I re-focused on the coyotes.
They were feeding on something in the soil. I’ve seen this behavior before. They’re definitely not feeding on rodents. I think they’re after insects, or maybe worms, and it might be that they’re finding them under cow pies. I’ll have to start kicking over cow pies and checking them and also checking the soil under them. Really. I’m curious.
After photographing these coyotes, mostly as individuals, I headed for Drake’s Bay. One thing I look for on that trek is elk along the road to Drakes Bay. Sure enough, a herd of bulls was hanging out not far from the intersection of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and the road down to Drakes Beach. Two of the dozen or so bulls were in the pasture closest to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. I wondered how they had gotten into that fenced pasture. My first thought was they got through a break in the fence. Then one of them started walking along the fence that separated the two pastures. I figured the fence may be damaged somewhere along there. I also wondered if it could jump the fence. It looked pretty high to me. See photo below. It’s looks like it’s a few inches below the bull’s jaw. I was a little worried because many wild mammals have died trying to cross fences.
After a moment or two I decided it wasn’t going to jump soon so I started photographing the others. As often happens with my luck, it jumped right after I took my eyes off it. So, I decided to stick with it and watch the other bull to see if it would jump.
By sticking with it I was rewarded. He cleared it no problem. Like I said though, sometimes they don’t. I don’t think a deer could clear that. Whenever I see them cross fences they go between the strands of wire. I’ve noticed at Point Reyes that the fencing seems to vary all over the place in terms of how high the top wire is and how low the bottom wire is. A good wildlife fence shouldn’t be too high on the top strand or too low on the bottom strand so wildlife can go over or under them. There are several articles on the internet about constructing livestock fences that are wildlife friendly. For one such article click here. As the article points out, top wires should never exceed 42 inches in height and bottom wires should never be lower than 16 inches. Preferably, the top and bottom wires should be smooth, not barbed.
This is a two-and-a-half year old female. She was just just given her walking papers by her mom. This is normal for grizzly bears. This happens to black bear cubs at age one-and-a-half.
She was very nervous, constantly looking over her shoulder. Mom was no longer there to protect her and she had killed an elk calf which lay nearby and which other predators, including bigger bears, could smell.
Finding the calf shows she has learned an important skill. I think she’ll do okay surviving on her own.
This is one of only three wolves that remain in the Lamar Valley. At one time there were over 30 wolves in the Lamar. Wolf numbers are down throughout the park due to various factors such as wolves killing other wolves and humans shooting wolves when they move outside park boundaries.
I have hardly seen any coyotes or wolves this spring. Today was a good start in correcting that. The first thing I saw to photograph was a pair of coyotes moving down from the Mammoth area toward the Gardner River below.
Not long after that I saw two wolves crossing the Blacktail Ponds area and headed my way. Both wore collars. Unfortunately, they changed direction and this photo is as close as I got to either of them. As of December 2012, there were only 79 wolves in the park. The highest count was 171 in 2007. Ten wolves which lived in Yellowstone most of the time were shot in the first hunting seasons outside the park. Most were shot within a mile or two of the park. Eight of the ten were wearing radio collars. Anyone with radio telemetry can now find wolves with the radio telemetry and shoot them when they leave the park which it seems people are doing.
While I haven’t seen many coyotes or wolves, I have seen quite a few red foxes which I used to hardly ever see.
I arrived in Yellowstone on Sunday afternoon, May 26. The red fox den near the Yellowstone Picnic Area was the talk of the park. Hundreds of people came to see the foxes. The den was only 60 yards from the nearest picnic table. The Park Service put up signs and cones to keep people 50 yards from the den. Seeing the parents all day long was great, but the best times were when they let the kits out to play.
I had gotten some good fox kit photos last year so I wasn’t as inclined as some to watch and photograph the foxes all day long as many people were. I would stop by once or twice a day to see what was happening. As it turned out, I learned that on Thursday that just before I arrived a badger and the vixen started fighting some distance up the road and the fight continued to the den. Many people photographed the fight at the den entrance. At this time the kits were in the den. I learned that when the badger got in the hole one kit ran out of the den entrance and the other got out an escape hole. The foxes had another den about 50 yards away and the the parents rounded up the kits and put them there. The badger never came out that day. It is likely that the vixen had stored food in the den and the badger presumably ate it. One of the parents was usually at the den entrance waiting for the badger to come out.
Everyone came back at the crack of dawn Friday morning. On Friday afternoon at about 5:00 p.m. the badger emerged from the den. Neither fox was around, which was very unusual. The badger went immediately to the other den and entered. I don’t know if it had been to the other den before or it followed a scent trail. When the mother returned she went to the new den site. The badger had back-filled it and the vixen dug and dug, but the badger was able to fill it much faster than the vixen could dig. The vixen bided her time outside the new den site. I learned that the badger came out for a short time Saturday and there was another fight, but it was much shorter than the first fight and the badger went back into the new den.
There doesn’t seem to be any doubt but that the badger killed and ate the kits.
Another photographer told me that he talked to the NPS Ranger that had been there the day before and the Ranger told him that this pair of foxes has yet to successfully raise its kits. I do remember hearing reports of foxes on the other side of the picnic area last year, but I never saw them. I think the photographer said that he was told the badger got the kits last year as well.
As I mentioned, I wasn’t there for the first fight. (I missed the later one as well.) Some people were there for the first fight though and they got good photos of it. To see one person’s photos click here.
Another sad note is that the vixen that I photographed with her kits last May just outside the northeast entrance was hit by a car and killed. Click here for my blog about her last year. She left four kits. One of them died, but someone is feeding the other kits. But they have no one to teach them the secrets to living a long life as a fox. Hopefully, it’s mostly in the genes.
Here is another view of the Petaluma River and some of the City of Petaluma’s historic buildings that it passes as it winds its way through the City. Not many cities have a river passing through it. These buildings, and others just outside the photo, house some of the best restaurants in the North Bay.
