Tag: point reyes national seashore

Point Reyes National Seashore

Cypress Tree Tunnel, Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a place in Point Reyes National Seashore called the Cypress Tree Tunnel because the road leading to an historic RCA site is shaded by a row of cypress trees on each side of the road and they grow over the road forming a tunnel-like appearance..

This is a view of the driveway leading to an historic building that was used by RCA long ago to communicate with ships in the Pacific. It’s somewhat famous for the cypress trees along the driveway because they form a tunnel leading to the old building. When I drive by this spot there are usually one or more people standing there taking photos.  As a person who is primarily a wildlife photographer, I’ve driven by there hundreds of times in the past 15 years and never stopped to photograph the tunnel. Recently, I decided I ought to do that some time.  A month ago I was driving by and no one was there. So, I stopped and took a few quick held-held “snapshots” with a not-ideal 100-500 mm lens (at 100 mm) just to be able to look at some photos at home to see if I should bother to go back for some more serious photos with a wider angle lens on a tripod, at sunset.  Maybe HDR.  I’m surprised that the photos, like the one above, were fairly good.  That makes me want to go back and try for better results.    

Coyote

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a coyote at Point Reyes National Seashore at sunset.

I photographed this coyote yesterday just before the sun set  I spotted it about fifteen or twenty minutes before sunset and stayed with it until the sun actually set.  It’s my favorite time to photograph wildlife, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.  I assume the light is just ad good at sunrise, but it’s a heck of a lot harder spotting anything to photograph in the dark.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron, Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a great blue heron in Drakes Beach Lagoon wading through thick algae as it looks for minnows.

I was out at Point Reyes National Seashore last week and photographed this great blue heron.  It was fishing in what is a new lagoon next to the parking lot at Drakes Beach.  I understand it was developed a couple of years ago as mitigation for the widening of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard through East Schooner Creek, which is one of the few anadromous streams in the Seashore.  A lagoon may have existed here long ago.  It sits at the bottom of a drainage with a dairy farm, C Ranch, at the top of the drainage.   The constituents of cow manure include nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which cause algal blooms when they get into watercourses.  The water might also contain E coli.  Unless something is done about the manure in the upper drainage, the whole lagoon will probably be filled with algae in another year or two.   This heron looked like it was having trouble just wading around in the lagoon.   This ranching shouldn’t be happening on Park Service-owned land in a national park.