This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This bull was standing at about a 45 degree angle to the sun before it set. This made for some strong sidelight and backlight. He’s still wearing some of his winter coat. He looks very healthy, but I think he’ll have to undergo a big growth-spurt to have a chance to breed this fall.
The times I’ve seen these sparring sessions they only last a few seconds. I saw a video once where two deer threw rapid punches for quite a while. Maybe I’ll witness one of those with the elk. What I like about this particular moment is the expression on the young bull’s face. I wonder what he’s thinking? Maybe it’s “You’re next buster.”
This owl was in a tree next to the road to Point Reyes Lighthouse. Point Reyes National Seashore has a healthy population of great horned owls. The ranching portion of Point Reyes is mainly made up of grazing lands. These lands have a fairly high population of gophers and other rodents. They are also punctuated by stands of mature trees. Find a stand of mature trees and you’ll find a pair of great horned owls.
This little fawn and its sibling were taking their time playing as they made their way to a bush to hide behind until their mother came back to get them. It may have sensed me after a bit because it went from care-free to stealth-mode very quickly. Once they got behind a single yellow bush lupine I could not see either fawn. The mother didn’t seem concerned. She knew I was about 40 yards past the fawns from her perspective. Her grazing carried her about 100 yards from the fawns, but all she did was occasionally look back at us. Very trusting. Maybe too trusting.
The foreground and lighting would not be my first choice here, but with wildlife photography you have to make do with what you’re given.
The young bull tule elk on the left is fortunate to have found a shed antler to chew on. Shed antlers are an important source of minerals, such as calcium. He laid down and worked on the antler for about half an hour. The other young bull would like to have it. Such is life.
A couple of days ago I remembered that I started this blog when I was in Yellowstone in May of last year. I checked and found that I published the first photo on May 13, 2010. A year ago today.
Elk calving has been going on for a while at Point Reyes. This photo was taken on April 28. Mothers keep their calves hidden for the first two weeks or so because it is the best protection from predators. By two weeks of age they can run with the adults. Given that, I assume these calves were born no later than April 14. I have also been seeing fawns lately. As you can see, wildflowers are also well underway.
This red-winged blackbird doesn’t have the yellow median coverts most red-wings have. The medians are black. It is called “bicolored” and exists in much of California. What I find interesting here is that he is exposing a beautiful yellow-orange color to the base of the lesser coverts.
