This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
I photographed this male lion at sunrise in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy. I just read that they weigh up to about 570 pounds. Wow. This guy just exudes power. I’m glad they never jump into safari vehicles that stop for photos just 20 yards away. They never do, right?
With a break in the wet weather, I headed out to Point Reyes yesterday afternoon. It turned out to be a good day. I saw and photographed several bobcats and coyotes.
I also photographed one of my favorite hawks, the American kestrel. It’s the smallest member of the falcon family and the most colorful bird of prey that I know of.
Point Reyes has a good population of kestrels. If you visit the seashore, look for them on fences and bushes.
I drove out to Point Reyes a few days go. I saw this cow elk on the D Ranch. I wondered what caused that protrusion of her cheek. Tumor? Abscess? A big wad of cud that would do a baseball player proud? She seemed normal in other respects. She has ear tags so she is an old gal. I think the Park Service last put ear tags on elk in 1999. That would make her 15 or more.
From what I’ve read lately, elk are a controversial subject among some of the ranchers who don’t want them eating any of the food the cows eat in the ranching areas. I don’t know the details, but apparently this controversy has caused the Park Service to start preparing a management plan for the pastoral zone.
I also saw a few bobcats and coyotes that day. Here’s a bobcat that caught a gopher while I was photographing him.
Like the elk, he seemed to qualify as a senior citizen. I got a few photos of him with his mouth open and his lower canines seemed pretty worn down. He was a handsome old guy though.
As you can see, there doesn’t appear to be much of any lower right canine left. For that matter, I don’t see any incisors on the bottom either. This photo doesn’t show the complete area where the lower left canine should be because the lower lip is in the way somewhat, but if it were normal I think we’d see at least the top half of it.
I went to Point Reyes a couple of days ago. It had been a while. When I arrived I quickly spotted a bobcat. It was too far to photograph so I waited a bit to see if it would move my way. It didn’t so I drove on. I quickly spotted another a short distance past the first one. See photo above. He looked like a bobcat I used to see and photograph frequently on another ranch in 2011. I decided to try to get closer to him. Just as that thought came to mind a coyote moved into view behind the bobcat. I focused on the coyote and it was quickly joined by another. And then another. That’s right, a pack of coyotes. I’ve seen three coyotes together several times before at Point Reyes and assume these guys are the ones I’ve seen previously. Usually, I only see a single coyote.
I wondered whether the bobcat saw them and so pulled my eye away from the camera back to look at him. He certainly had. He was doing a fast crawl toward me and my car and his belly was almost touching the ground. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to photograph him as he was already very close to the rear of my car. I re-focused on the coyotes.
They were feeding on something in the soil. I’ve seen this behavior before. They’re definitely not feeding on rodents. I think they’re after insects, or maybe worms, and it might be that they’re finding them under cow pies. I’ll have to start kicking over cow pies and checking them and also checking the soil under them. Really. I’m curious.
After photographing these coyotes, mostly as individuals, I headed for Drake’s Bay. One thing I look for on that trek is elk along the road to Drakes Bay. Sure enough, a herd of bulls was hanging out not far from the intersection of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and the road down to Drakes Beach. Two of the dozen or so bulls were in the pasture closest to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. I wondered how they had gotten into that fenced pasture. My first thought was they got through a break in the fence. Then one of them started walking along the fence that separated the two pastures. I figured the fence may be damaged somewhere along there. I also wondered if it could jump the fence. It looked pretty high to me. See photo below. It’s looks like it’s a few inches below the bull’s jaw. I was a little worried because many wild mammals have died trying to cross fences.
After a moment or two I decided it wasn’t going to jump soon so I started photographing the others. As often happens with my luck, it jumped right after I took my eyes off it. So, I decided to stick with it and watch the other bull to see if it would jump.
By sticking with it I was rewarded. He cleared it no problem. Like I said though, sometimes they don’t. I don’t think a deer could clear that. Whenever I see them cross fences they go between the strands of wire. I’ve noticed at Point Reyes that the fencing seems to vary all over the place in terms of how high the top wire is and how low the bottom wire is. A good wildlife fence shouldn’t be too high on the top strand or too low on the bottom strand so wildlife can go over or under them. There are several articles on the internet about constructing livestock fences that are wildlife friendly. For one such article click here. As the article points out, top wires should never exceed 42 inches in height and bottom wires should never be lower than 16 inches. Preferably, the top and bottom wires should be smooth, not barbed.
I haven’t ever gone through Grand Teton on my way to or from Yellowstone, but I was leaning toward doing that on the way home this year when someone in Yellowstone told me of a spot to photograph a great gray owl. That was all I needed to hear to make up my mind. I didn’t find the owl, but this grizzly cub made up for it.
It is one of three cubs born to famous #399 a year and a half ago. 399 has become famous because of her habit of living with her cubs close to roads and humans. Some believe she does this because boars are less likely to frequent such areas and thus the likelihood of a boar killing her cubs is lessened. The downside to this is that her cubs can pick up the same habit and bears that are comfortable near humans and roads is not a good thing. This cub is spending a lot of time close to the road at the intersection with Pilgrim Creek.
It’s not normal for a grizzly sow to give her cubs the boot at one year of age, but that’s what 399 does. NPS says 399 was abandoned by her mom at that age and thus to 399 that’s what a mom does, I guess. This cub’s chances of survival would seem to be lessened somewhat without the extra year of protection and education mom could provide.
Well, not really. It’s just that they’re not grazing on grass as much any more and thus not as easy to see. Elk (and pronghorn and bighorn) are giving birth and the word is out. Grass was OK when meat wasn’t readily available, but now that meat is available the bears don’t have to settle for grass. They need the protein to survive. As I was driving from Mammoth to Gardiner yesterday there was a traffic jam mid-way due to a black bear kill of an elk calf. This can be unsettling when you experience it, but that’s nature and let’s not forget most of us eat meat and it’s not much different, except we rely mostly on others to do our bidding.
I don’t have any photos of elk calves yet, but I saw this female pronghorn and her twins close to the Roosevelt Arch the past couple of days. I’ve gotten attached to them from photographing them. I hope they survive the next four days or so until then can keep up with mom.
Two years ago this month I started this blog with a trip to Yellowstone. It seems fitting that I am in Yellowstone now. This is my favorite time to be in Yellowstone. I saw 14 black bears today, not counting repeats. Four were spring cubs. No grizzlies yet though.
Unfortunately, my laptop is has something wrong with it. Not a good sign and not a good time for this to happen.
Below is a photo of what is probably Yellowstone’s most famous area from a wildlife standpoint. The photo shows a small part of the west end of the Lamar Valley. The valley is sometimes referred to as America’s Serengeti because of the sweeping vistas showing large numbers of wildlife. Numerous bison are visible. There may be some smaller animals in there as well. The valley has been the best place to spot wolves among other things.
Hopefully, this laptop will remain alive until my trip ends.
