Tag: wildlife photography

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Northern Harrier Asks: “Are you finished?” Pt. Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a male northern harrier.
What are YOU looking at?

This male northern harrier looks like he’s getting fed up with something — maybe me.  Birds seem to look that way sometimes.  It reminds me of the mad duck image I posted here.   Maybe it’s more like:  “Oh no, not you again.”  It’s funny, herbivores often look like they are smiling.  See my post on the bison calf below.  Also, the cow elk here.  Carnivores seem to have more of a poker face, but even with them I’ve seen what looked like a smile.  I’m thinking of this one wolf that seemed to be smiling.  See this link.  Of course, I should mention the always-smiling porpoises and dolphins.  And then there are the chimpanzees who not only smile, but laugh.  Maybe I need to spend more time doing landscape photography.

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Tule Elk in Velvet

A tule elk stands with antlers in velvet.
Tule elk with antlers in velvet, Point Reyes National Seashore

There are three things in the photo above that say it’s spring to me.  The first thing is the flowers.  The second is the change occurring in the elk’s coat from a warmer (longer), lighter-colored, winter coat to a cooler (shorter), darker, summer coat.  The third thing is the early-stage growth of antlers.

During the winter season the Point Reyes tule elk shed their antlers.  Almost immediately after shedding them they began growing new antlers.  Under that velvet skin the antlers are engorged with blood.  At this early stage you can easily see evidence of blood-rich tissue.  Below is a cropped version of the above photo showing the blood-rich tissue.

Close-up profile of elk in velvet
Close-up of Tule elk in velvet
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Poster Boy

A bobcat sits by a gopher hole.
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore

One thing I like about photographing during the winter at Point Reyes is the lush greens in the ranching areas.  The rainy season is just about over and it will be just be a matter of time before the greens turn to browns.  I was fortunate to see and photograph this male bobcat several times this winter.  He was almost always on lush, green grass.  I’d like to tell him I’m grateful for that.  I haven’t seen him lately.  I hope he’s OK.  If you’d like a print of this image click here.

A while back I decided to do a series of posters featuring birds of Western North America.  They are carried by the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Novato.  Recently, I decided to do one featuring the wildlife of Marin County which is the county I live in just north of San Francisco.  I started off with the idea of just doing mammals, but that has grown to include birds of Marin.  The posters are for sale now at the Viewpoints Gallery in Point Reyes Station.  That little town is located near the entrance to Point Reyes National Seashore.  They are  also available at Fabulous Framers in Novato and will soon be available at Wild Birds Unlimited in Novato.  As it has turned out, most of the subjects were photographed in Point Reyes National Seashore.  Here is a sample of what the posters look like.  My favorite bobcat is my poster boy for this sample.

Poster with a bobcat as the photo.
Bobcat Poster