Tag: point reyes national seashore

Black Bear

Cinnamon Black Bear, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of cinnamon black bear.
A Hungry Bear

I started this photo blog a little over a year ago in Yellowstone.  I thought then that it would be a good time to start the blog because I would have, hopefully, a lot of images to get the blog going.  As it turned out I got more images than I could deal with.  By the time I got all the images downloaded each night it was 11:00 pm and I wanted to be back in the park by sunrise.  No problem I thought.  I’ll post the Yellowstone images on the blog when I get home.  I was going to do that to some degree anyway.

As it turned out, when I got home I started going to nearby Point Reyes National Seashore and, to my surprise, there were enough wildlife photo opportunities at Point Reyes that I never did post much of last spring in Yellowstone.   I cancelled my trip this spring which would have been my third spring trip in a row.  I started posting images of spring in Yellowstone a week ago without much thought about it.  I guess I missed being there.  I think I’ll continue for a while.

This cinnamon black bear was a regular outside the northeast entrance last spring.  I don’t know where the boundary is between Park Service land and Forest Service land. To me, he’s a Yellowstone bear.

Bobcat

A Bobcat Visits the Pantry; Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a bobcat.
Gopher Trap

I haven’t gotten any good photos of bobcats lately.  They’ve given up their crepuscular ways and they’ve gone back to being nocturnal.  This photo was taken in February.  This particular guy was my favorite this past winter.  He has a very pronounced chin.  I had a house cat with a chin like his.  It was diagnosed as feline acne, treated and it cleared up.  I wonder if bobcats get feline acne.

On another note, I’m working on a review of window mounts.  I hope to have that done in the next day or so.  Included in that review will be the new Puffin Pad.

Deer

Blacktail Buck

A Columbia Blacktail Buck feeds in a field of tall grass.
Columbia Blacktail Deer, Point Reyes National Seashore

This buck was  grazing in a rancher’s field.  H e must have liked what he was eating given how stuffed his cheeks are.

Coyote

A Coyote Jumps Over the Moon.

Photo of a coyote jumping as it hunts.
A coyote “mousing.” Point Reyes National Seashore

Pardon the hyperbole, but if a cow can jump over the moon why not a coyote?  This photo was taken last winter.  I’ve never seen a coyote jump this high while mousing (or doing anything else).   This is the coyote I’ve covered before, including the day before yesterday, with the injured right foreleg.  It looks swollen at the wrist.  Nevertheless, he landed front feet first.

Owl

Another Great Horned Owl Waits For Darkness

A great horned owl waits for darkness.
Great Horned Owl, Point Reyes National Seashore

It’s mid-day and this adult great horned owl has hours to wait until darkness.  In summer their hunting hours are much shorter than in winter, although they are busiest just after sunset and just before sunrise regardless of season.   They prey on whatever is available.  Hans Peeters, author of Field Guide to Owls of California and the West, states (page 191) that they have been known to even prey on house cats, bald eagles and canada geese.  Bald eagles?  Bald eagles weigh about 10 pounds.  Great horned owls only weigh about three pounds.  I wonder what they’d take if they weighed as much as an eagle?