Jim Coda Nature Photography

February 20, 2011Uncategorized

Killing Black Bears and Selling Their Gall Bladders

Photo of mother black bear. — Black Bear, Yellowstone National Park

Recently I wrote that the elk are dropping their antlers in Point Reyes National Seashore and the Park Service is busy picking up the antlers before the antler traders find them and remove them (which is illegal). I mentioned that while bad enough, at least the antler thieves don’t kill the elk for the body parts as happens with animals such as bears, tigers and elephants. The next day I opened my local paper to learn that someone in my city, which is located not more than 30 miles from San Francisco, was arrested while poaching a black bear in the Mendocino National Forest. More black bear parts, namely a head, five paws, a penis and gall bladder, were in his freezer at home. According to the article, black bear gall bladders sell for $5,000 on the black market. A bad as these killings are, the real problem is the demand by some in the Asian community for bear and tiger parts for their supposed value as aphrodisiacs. Tigers are nearing extinction due to this demand. I wonder if there has ever been any study to support or refute this belief.

February 17, 2011Uncategorized

Bull Elk Near San Francisco

A bull elk ruminates on Tomales Point. — Bull Elk, Tomales Point

I photographed this bull Tule elk in the Elk Reserve at Point Reyes National Seashore a couple of weeks ago. The bulls are dropping their antlers there now. This bull may no longer have his. If elk have egos I wonder how the bulls feel when they lose their antlers?

Those of us who live in the San Francisco Bay Area and like to see wildlife are very fortunate to have Point Reyes nearby. We are certain to see Tule elk and Black-tailed deer at Point Reyes. We have a very good chance of seeing coyotes and bobcats. We can see whales off the coast and marine mammals, such as elephant seals, on the shore. We can see all sorts of bird life, including peregrine falcons. I can’t think of another large metropolitan area that has all of these wildlife species nearby.

February 16, 2011Uncategorized

Injured Coyote

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.

February 15, 2011Uncategorized

Tule Elk’s New Antlers; A Work In Progress

Tule Elk shows new antlers growing. — Tule Elk, Point Reyes National Seashore

This bull has shed his antlers and has the beginnings of new ones. Recently, I posted some photos of two bull elk fighting at Tomales Point and said that some bulls were already shedding their antlers. That was based on having seen several bulls in the Limantour herd that had shed one or both antlers, including the subject elk. However, last Saturday I was at the Tomales Point Elk Reserve and noticed that none of the bulls that I saw had shed any antlers. That surprised me. For some reason the Limantour herd seems to be shedding antlers earlier than the larger Tomales Point herd.

At this time of year the Park Service has to be on the lookout for people who collect antlers to sell. That is against the law. Yet, people do it knowing it is illegal. There must be enough money in it for some people to break the law. It could be worse. I mean they aren’t killing the elk for the antlers. Countless animals are killed illegally every day for one or more body parts that are marketable. This happens to many species. The ones that come to mind for me now are sharks, bears, tigers and elephants, but there are many more.

February 13, 2011Uncategorized

Bobcat Hunting Gophers

A bobcat stops in a field. — Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore

This bobcat was hunting gophers. Gophers are plentiful at Point Reyes, at least in the agricultural areas. They are an important food source for coyotes, bobcats, badgers and other predators at the Seashore. If this bobcat could talk he would probably say there is no such thing as too many gophers.

February 10, 2011Uncategorized

Badger, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California

A badger takes a rest on top of his diggings. — Badger, Point Reyes National Seashore

I’ve been spending a fair amount of time photographing at Point Reyes the last six months or so and hadn’t seen a badger until the other day when I spotted this one taking a rest on its diggings. For much of that period I wasn’t really focusing on looking for badgers, but after having a fair amount of success with my main interests, coyotes and bobcats, I decided recently to concentrate on looking for badgers. I was pleasantly surprised at how soon I spotted this badger. When I was in areas that had obvious badger activity I made sure I focused my attention on any signs of fresh badger diggings and on nothing else. Having said that, I’m sure luck was still the biggest part of the equation.

A badger gets up after its rest. — Badger, Point Reyes National Seashore

Some cows were grazing their way into its path and it decided to head underground to avoid getting stepped on. But for the cows I would probably have only gotten shots of the badger at rest. Unfortunately, it didn’t come up again before it got too dark to photograph. I came by the next morning at sunrise, but it wasn’t visible. It may have moved on, but I think it was underground. There were so many gophers making themselves visible while the badger was taking its rest that I doubt it needed to move on by the morning to find more food.

February 9, 2011Uncategorized

Two Bull Elk Fight

Two Tule elk bulls get ready to fight. — Two Bull Tule Elk, Point Reyes National Seashore

January 28, 20011. Two bull elk face each other before a post-rut sparring session.

Two bull elk fight. — Two Bulls Fight for Dominance; Point Reyes National Seashore

They went at it for quite a while. There was a winner and I think they’ll each remember that. There won’t be much more fighting now because the bulls are dropping their antlers. However, come the next rut these two will probably go at it again.