Tag: point reyes national seashore

Other Bird

White-crowned Sparrow, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of white-crowned sparrow.
Chimney Rock Sparrow

I was out at Point Reyes yesterday afternoon.  The afternoons go by pretty quickly this time of year. I should be getting there at first light.  I saw a coyote and a bobcat, but neither rewarded me with a very good photo.  The bobcat decided to see how low he could lie in the grass and the coyote chose to walk in an area that didn’t provide a very good background.    I was hopeful of seeing a badger, but had no luck there as usual.

The more common wildlife like elk, deer and birds often save the day.  So it was yesterday.  There were a lot of white-crowned sparrows near the Chimney Rock parking lot.  This guy, and some of his kin, took turns posing for me for a while.

Coyote

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a coyote.
On the Hunt

In my last post I mentioned that I saw a coyote on the H Ranch.  It was hunting for rodents.  It didn’t catch any rodents while I was there, but it did eat something that looked like it came from a cow dropping.

Coyotes cover a lot of territory each day.  You never know where you’ll see one at Point Reyes, but when you drive by the H Ranch (before Abbott’s Lagoon) look carefully.  You have a good chance of seeing one there.

Tule Elk

What’s Wrong With This Bull Elk?

Photo of bull tule elk.
Bull Elk Exhibiting Hair Loss

I was at Point Reyes yesterday afternoon.  It was my first time out there in quite a while.  There’s been enough rain that most ground cover has turned a nice, rich green.  I saw a coyote on the H Ranch which is a fairly common place to spot a coyote, and Handsome Bob, the bobcat I so named because he has such a striking coat of spots, was in his accustomed place just outside the tule elk reserve.  (For a post about Handsome Bob click here.)  There were a number of elk on the D Ranch (by Drake’s Bay).  The bulls were in one group before the ranch complex and the cows and calves were in another group past the ranch complex.  At the elk reserve on the Tomales Peninsula some bulls were with the cows and they were acting like the rut is still on there.

This big bull (7×8 points) was in his accustomed place for late afternoons which is just past the Kehoe Ranch complex in the swale on the right side of the road.  He’s one of about 5 bull elk that somehow got out of the reserve some time in the past several years.  He seems to be alone every time I see him.  The other four seem to stay together.

Yesterday was the first time I noticed that there is something wrong with his coat.  My guess is that he has mange/scabies, but I’m no expert.  I did a quick google search and found that elk do get mange.  For a study done regarding mange at the National Elk Refuge (NER) at Jackson Hole, click here.  Mange is caused by a mite that burrows very deep into the skin.  It can cause death due to hair loss and hypothermia.  The NER report states that bulls die of it at a much higher rate than cows and it was thought that the higher mortality rate was due to the debilitated state bulls are in at the start of winter due to the fall rut.  The report also states that if hair loss extends from the neck to more than one quarter the length of the back the case is considered severe.

Mange is spread by contact. I have no idea to what extent the elk herd at Point Reyes has a mange problem, but since this bull is outside the reserve and doesn’t even seem to spend time with the other four bulls, his case wouldn’t seem to be cause for concern for the rest of the herd.  I also have no idea what his prognosis is or how he got the mange (if that’s what it is)  given his solitary habits.  At least he doesn’t have to deal with cold winters like the elk at the National Elk Refuge.

Tule Elk

Two Young Bulls Debate Who Has the Right of Way on Game Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of two tule elk bulls facing each other on a game trail.
“Outta My Way!”  “No, outta my way!”

Yesterday’s photo of the elk calf was taken an hour before sunset.  The light was still pretty strong as you could see.  This photo was taken at sunset and these young tule elk bulls are in the shade.  Much nicer light and color in the shade, especially at sunset.

Each of these young bulls has five points per antler.  Points are an indicator of age in elk.  According to the Park Service, one-year old bulls have a single spike.  Two-year olds usually have slender antlers with four  to five points.  Three year olds have thicker antlers with four to five points and four year old and older bulls usually have  six points on each antler and they get thicker each year.   Yellowstone Resources and Issues 2009 at p. 126.    While the Park Service document was focusing on Rocky Mountain elk, I don’t believe there is any difference with regard to the antlers of these tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore.

So, are these five-point elk two or three years old?  I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they are three year olds.  Their antlers aren’t that slender and I’ve seen bulls with skinny antlers and four or five points and they’re still hanging out with the cows and yearlings.  These guys in the photo are hanging out with the big six (and seven) point bulls.

Tule Elk

Tule Elk Calf, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of tule elk calf.
One of Many Tule Elk Calves, Pierce Point Ranch

At the end of my most recent day out at Point Reyes I did what I usually do, which is to drive out the Tomales Peninsula to the Pierce Point Ranch area to photograph the elk that move to the east side of the road in the last light before sunset.  It’s great that they do that because you can use your car as a blind and be fairly close to them.   That they cross the road then is crucial so you don’t have to shoot into the sun.

Luckily, the cow elk do this most of the time about an hour before sunset.  They were right on schedule that day.   There were about 50 cows and yearlings and another 20 to 30 calves.  I don’t recall nearly as many calves there last year.   If you want to photograph elk calves this is a good time to do it there.

Osprey

Baling Twine, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of some discarded baling twine which is dangerous to wildlife.
Dangerous to Wildlife

A few days ago I wrote about the dangers of baling twine to ospreys.  This is what it looks like up close.  I found it on the edge of the road on the way to the turnoff for Chimney Rock.  I picked it up to properly dispose of it, but I took some photos first.  It’s made of plastic and seems light as a feather.  Given that it is used and has been coiled up, someone probably picked it up from a field and intended to dispose of it properly, but lost if from the back of a truck.  It looks like there are about three or four separate pieces of twine.

It was interesting that I found it yesterday morning because I planned to go out Limantour Road to check on something and on the way I intended to check on some osprey nests in a canyon that runs up to the road.   The two nests I had in mind were there and there was an osprey in each nest when I arrived.  I spotted a nest farther out that also had an osprey in it.  The osprey in the closest nest took off shortly after I parked my car in the little pull out.

Photo of an osprey nest in Point Reyes National Seashore
No Baling Twine

This is the closest nest.  It’s about 75 to 100 yards from where I parked.  The other nests are even farther away.   There didn’t seem to be any young in the nests.  I didn’t see any baling twine in them either, which was good.  The nests are not very close to the ranching areas of Point Reyes which lessens the chance that twine would get into them.  Plus,  I assume the Park Service has made an effort to educate the ranchers to the potential dangers of leaving twine in the fields if they didn’t know of the dangers already.

Update:  after I drafted this post I went out to my car and pulled the stuff apart.  There were five equal lengths.  Each was roughly 20 feet long.  It cuts easily using  a scissors.  It was very hard to cut with a box cutter.  I gathered each piece so it was four strands wide and then cut it across five times so I ended up with roughly foot-long strands.  It didn’t take long.  I then put all the pieces into a medium size plastic bag which I tied at the top.  The bag could have held several times more twine.  If the bag winds up on the top of a landfill it shouldn’t pose a potential risk.  I think if I were a rancher and had lots to get rid of I’d maybe skip the cutting and put it in large bags that were sealed closed.  There may be ways to re-cycle it as well.

If you come across any of this stuff please pick it up and dispose of it properly.

Landscape

Views from Inverness, California

I went out to Point Reyes yesterday, something I haven’t been doing too much of this year compared to last year.  The forecast said there would be fog, but thankfully it was a no-show.  Moreover, the light was fantastic thanks to lots of clouds varying from almost pure white to very dark.  The sun shined through in spots on occasion.   I didn’t see much in the way of wildlife; just the usual ho-hum critters (quail, songbirds, hawks, elk and deer) plus one coyote just before sunset.  I had lunch with a friend who said he saw four bobcats before our lunch.  Another friend told me he saw two badgers there yesterday.  I’m beginning to wonder if I’m losing my touch in spotting wildlife because I haven’t been spending much time looking for them this year.

I was feeling uneasy all day because I only brought my wildlife gear and I sensed there would be some good landscape opportunities at sunset given the good light and the clouds.  Shooting landscape photos with telephoto lenses is, needless to say, limiting.  One thing I’ve been meaning to photograph is Black Mountain, which is a large coastal hill/mountain completely covered in grass.  It is very green this time of year.  I’ve also heard it referred to as Elephant Mountain.  I made a mental note to stop in Inverness on my way home to see how it looked.  I knew it was one landscape scene I could photograph using a telephoto lens.  This is how it looked when I arrived in Inverness.  The green grass of Black Mountain  has been turned to gold by the setting sun.  The water in the foreground is Tomales Bay.  The green hills in the midground are not part of Black Mountain.  I don’t know why it’s called Black Mountain.

Photo of Black Mountain from Inverness.
Black Mountain at Sunset

As I stood there in Inverness, I looked at the rest of the east horizon and saw a nice looking ridge well north of Black Mountain that was also bathed in the last light of the day.  I don’t know the name for it, assuming there is one.  There are two large structures at the top of it, unfortunately.

Photo looking east from Inverness, California
View to Northeast from Inverness

I was somewhat lucky yesterday which counterbalanced my poor planning in not bringing some landscape lenses.  I was lucky in the sense that I made it to Inverness with about 5 minutes to spare before the sun’s golden light left these mountain tops.