Tag: pierce point

Badger

Badger, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a badger after it awakens from a sunbath.
A badger wakes up from its sunbath.

After lunch today I decided to go out to Point Reyes.  I’m anxious for the coyotes and bobcats to return to their winter ways of spending more time out during daylight hours and I hoped I’d see some today.    I had barely gotten inside the Seashore when I  saw a lot of badger diggings on a hillside.  They looked fresh, although it had rained last night and I wondered if the wetness of the dirt made them look fresher than they were.   I scanned all the diggings and the one that was highest up the hill had a brownish lump on the side of the digging.  It was partly obstructed by vegetation.  I grabbed my 7X binoculars and took a look.  They weren’t powerful enough to be certain, but it looked like brown fur and it wasn’t moving.  I assumed it was a badger and that it was asleep.  I grabbed my lens and tripod and  decided to move slowly up the hill to try to get close enough for a good photo.  I used a telephone pole between us as cover.

I got to about 40 to 50 yards from what I knew by then was a badger and was about to shoot a few frames when out of the corner of my eye I caught a flash of movement.  It was a a coyote and it was running straight up the hill on my left.  I have no idea why or how the coyote did that.  I think it may have been sleeping somewhere to the left of the badger and me and I startled it.  I started shooting the coyote as it ran, but it topped the hill quickly.  I re-focused on the badger and, no surprise, it was no longer asleep.  It was staring straight at me.  I’m sure the coyote caught its attention first and the noise from my shutter got its attention next.  I fired off several shots and the badger went down the burrow it had dug.  It quickly popped back up to take a longer look at me.  After a few seconds it had seen enough.

Photo of a badger peeking from its burrow.
A badger takes a peek.

After a bit, I circled around the burrow hoping he’d come up again and, not seeing me where he expected me to be, he’d come out.  It was not to be and after about 30 minutes I gave up.  It was a good start though.

It turned out that that was the high point of the afternoon.  I did see another coyote later.  I also had one bobcat cross the road in front of me.  I also saw another critter for a second or two before it disappeared into a swale.  I think it was either a bobcat or coyote.  Things were pretty slow elk-wise on the Tomales Peninsula.

I then headed over to Drake’s Beach hoping to see some elk on the way or maybe something at Drake’s Beach itself.  On the way I saw a burrowing owl that my friend Jeff told me about just before the turnoff for Drake’s Beach.  There was also a big 7-point bull elk on the east side of the road to Drake’s Beach.  Drake’s Beach itself was dead.  I then headed back to Pierce Point.  It’s often pretty good for elk late in the day.  Not today.

Things seem to be getting better at Point Reyes in terms of seeing bobcats and coyotes.

Coyote

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a coyote staring at the camera.
Coyote, Pt. Reyes National Seashore

I photographed this coyote on my last trip to Point Reyes.  The photo was taken just before noon.  Seeing a coyote midday is fairly unusual, especially for the summer months.  They are crepuscular (active during dawn and dusk hours) and nocturnal.  That doesn’t mean you will never see them during daylight hours.  It just means that they are less active then.  I believe there is a seasonal aspect to it as well.  I see far more coyotes during the daytime in winter months than I do during summer months.

I spotted this individual while driving back from the Pierce Point area.  I stopped slightly past the coyote and had to hand-hold for this photo.   Not my first choice with a big lens.

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Injured Coyote

An injured coyote hunts on the Tomales Point Peninsula.
Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

I saw this coyote last Thursday in the Pierce Point area of Point Reyes National Seashore.  Saturday he was a bit south of there.  Yesterday he was at the south end of the Tomales Point Peninsula.  I know it’s the same coyote because there is something wrong with his right foreleg at what would be the “wrist” for a human.  It doesn’t seem to handicap him at a walking pace, but when he runs it’s obvious and slows him down.   It doesn’t handicap him in feeding though from what I can see.  I watched him hunt rodents last Thursday and he was having no trouble catching them.  When I saw him yesterday he was feeding on something larger than a rodent.

He should have stayed around Pierce Point Ranch a little longer.  Yesterday I saw a fairly fresh elk carcass there.  Some turkey vultures had found it, but it didn’t look like any other scavengers had fed on it.

It also looks like there is some fur missing on this coyote’s back.

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Tule Elk, Point Reyes National Seashore

A bul elk walks inside a corral at the Kehoe Ranch.
Bull Elk in Corral

As I mentioned in a recent post, the elk at Tomales Point are kept there by a fence that runs across the peninsula from Tomales Bay to the ocean.  However, occasionally they will go around the end of the fence.  I’ve seen bulls outside the enclosure, but never a cow.  Here is a bull that was inside a corral at the Kehoe Ranch on October 31.  Twenty minutes later when I came back from the Pierce Point Ranch area the bull was gone.  The gate was open.  I assume that’s how the bull got in.  Later, I realized that I should have told the people at the Kehoe Ranch and/or the Park Service that the bull was in the Kehoe corral.  Maybe it was an opportunity to get the animal back into the enclosure.

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Brush Rabbits, Point Reyes National Seashore

A couple of years ago I was on the road to Pierce Point when all of the sudden the road became full of rabbits.  They seemed unusually small to me at the time and I couldn’t believe how many there were.  If I researched what they were then I’ve forgotten.   Well, just the other day I saw a few more of these small rabbits and I was able to photograph them.  Here’s a photo of one of them.

A brush rabbit stops briefly in an opening in the brush at Abbott's Lagoon.
Brush Rabbit, Point Reyes National Seashore

Now that I had photographed one I had to find out what it was. That was easy thanks to Google.  These small rabbits are brush rabbits. The name sure fits given where I found them.  If they look like cottontails to you that’s because they are a type of cottontail.  They are different in two ways though.  First, they don’t have any white on their tails.  Second, they are noticeably smaller than other cottontails.  As I photographed them I noticed that they didn’t stay in the little opening where I photographed them for very long.  I think that those that do stay longer tend to live shorter lives.

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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.