Frosty sparrow, Tennessee Valley

With the extra cold weather this weekend in the Bay Area, I figured I'd take a walk in Tennessee Valley with the hope of seeing some wildlife in the frosted meadows. Unfortunately, nothing was stirring in the early morning light except for some sparrows along the trail.



Perhaps it was singing about how cold its feet were!

Bobcat among the branches, Tennessee Valley

When this bobcat decided to go off trail for a bit, it made the photography a little more challenging, since it was wandering through an area with a lot of dead vegetation. But I stayed patient and waiting for the moments that its head was in a clearing to try to get an unobstructed view of its eyes. It's amazing how much of the clutter in an image your mind will ignore if you can get contact with a clean set of eyes.



It was cruising along when it heard something in the undergrowth. It just happened to stop right in a clear line of sight for me, and even gave me a glance before continuing its walk.

Great horned owl in Tennessee Valley

We spotted this great horned owl sitting along the trail watching the hikers go by near the lagoon in Tennessee Valley. It really blended in quite well with the rocks, so it's easy to see why it selected what could otherwise have been a conspicuous perch.



Great horned owls seem to be pretty common in the park, and I guess that's no surprise since there are plenty of rodents in the meadows. It's a lot of fun if you plan to be walking the trail around sunset, since they really start to make a racket in both the eucalyptus trees and the willows. We even saw a pair mating as we were walking out that evening! We heard two hoots coming right after another from the same location, and as we searched for the source, it was pretty easy to find once the feathers started fluttering!



We watched this one for a while, and pointed it out to many hikers who were curious about what my big lens was pointed at. I was happy also to get some frames of it preening. My wife laughed and said that most people would be more excited to get it with its head showing, but I like to capture their everyday behaviour as well.

Bobcat in the bushes, Tennessee Valley

Three shots from our weekend encounter with this lovely bobcat in Tennessee Valley. After finishing its meal and strolling down the trail for a bit, the bobcat decided to take a break in the bushes just off of the trail. There were a lot of branches around, but thankfully it picked a spot where I could shoot over the coyote brush to get an unobstructed view of its face.



They are such beautiful animals, and they seem to carry themselves as if they know it. This one looked quite regal, even with its eyes closed.



The cat was eventually brought out of its restful trance by a small white dog following its master down the trail. The shot below is of it eyeing up the dog as it passed -- we were able to watch it turn its head to follow the progress of the fluffy canine. I'm not even sure that the owner knew there was a cat in the bushes, but you could tell that the cat was contemplating if it was worth taking a run at it.

My wife's first bobcat encounter, Tennessee Valley

After many hikes in the Bay Area looking for bobcats, my wife finally had her first encounter yesterday! I've been fortunate to see them on a handful of occasions, but only ever on trips that I had taken alone (including a brief view of one in Point Reyes National Seashore on Saturday). My wife has really wanted to see one, and she finally got her chance in Tennessee Valley. We had a fantastic encounter, including watching it finish eating a rodent then take a pounce at another, as well as cleaning itself after the meal and wandering through the brush. A nice first experience for sure! Strangely enough, her first sight of one in the wild came on the 1st anniversary of my first bobcat sighting. Since she was quite excited about seeing this beautiful cat, I let her pick which image I should post first. She thought this one was funny with the cat sticking its tongue out at us :)

Heron with prize

A few weeks ago I posted a few shots from the archives of a great blue heron at Rodeo Lagoon in the act of striking at prey below the water surface. However, I didn't include any shots of the bird with its prize. I've remarked before at how small the fish were that it was catching, and I stand by that with this picture as evidence. It seems like it would take a lot of these tiny fish to satiate a bird of this size. I've got to give it credit though, it was remarkably adept at catching such small prey.

Fawns in the fog

Last July I took what had to be the foggiest hike I have ever gone on. In the late afternoon, I headed over to Tennessee Valley in the GGNRA, and hoped to take advantage of the overcast light from the fog that was rolling in. This probably would have been great had I stayed in the valley, but something told me to do a more elevated loop, and I ascended the Fox Trail. It was on my way up that I began to fully experience what it meant for the fog to be rolling in over the headlands. At times I could barely see past the sides of the trail, and I certainly didn't expect to be able to do any photography. However, when these cute siblings materialized from within the howling fog bank, it was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. Their mother wasn't at all interested in me, and she just continued to feed, but these two were definitely curious about me. And you've just gotta love the almost too-large ears on these guys!

Show me your best side -- California Quail edition

Three different compositions of the same bird in this post, a male California quail along the trail in Tennessee Valley. This is the same bird that I posted a vertical composition of previously, who quite generously gave me a few minutes on top of his bush before realizing that only a lousy photographer was paying attention to him, and he probably should pick a different bush to woo the ladies from.

This frame is perhaps "Quail Classic" with nice posture and that standing tall kind of attitude, surely a stunning find for a female.

But this shot I think is my favorite of the bunch -- a quail with attitude! You can almost see him giving me a Z-snap and making a snarky comeback.

And lastly perhaps his right side is his better side, which he kindly gave to me while working the camera as well.

On a more serious note, a Flickr member commented on my previous post of this guy about how was I able to get such clean bokeh while shooting at only f/8. The secret to this shot is that this is on a portion of the trail that cuts along an elevated portion of the hillside in Tennessee Valley. The background is actually a separate hillside across the valley, which is probably a few hundred yards off.

Quail in the Valley

A male California Quail in the brush along the trail in Tennessee Valley.

Wild turkey, Tennessee Valley

A common sight near the horse stables at Tennessee Valley, these wild turkeys are a fun to see up close. So remarkably ugly, but with beautiful plumage especially when a male displays.

Great blue heron with attitude

Flipping back through some images from earlier this year, I realized that I have a handful of heron and egret shots from a sunset spent at Rodeo Lagoon in the Marin Headlands. I've had many experiences where great blue herons will fly away they moment they even think you might have seen them in the distance, but I've often found that when they are in fishing mode, they are easy to approach. That was the case for this beautiful bird, as it completely ignored the photographer crouching along the shoreline as it sought out many small fish to make up an evening meal.



Checking out this heron straight on definitely gives an air of attitude, but its attention was totally on the fish it was stirring up with its slow walk in the shallows, and not at all on me.



This particular bird was quite impressive with its fishing skills, as it rarely made a strike that didn't end with a fish. It was a fun opportunity to rotate the camera to a portrait frame as well, as other than the strikes, it stood tall throughout much of the encounter -- often with one eye peering down at the water.

Song sparrow in Tennessee Valley

On one of my unsuccesful bobcat finding trips in February, my consolation prize was this lovely sparrow singing along the trail on the way out.



Perhaps contemplating its next tune:

Finally -- a bobcat

After a handful of unsuccessful trips to Tennessee Valley over the past few weeks, I finally encountered a bobcat there. This is the first time I've ever been in the presence of a wild one, and even though it never came real close it was still awesome to have the chance to observe it.



The bobcat listened for prey along the trail and made a pounce into the bushes along the right side before disappearing for a few minutes. It sauntered back out into the path before briefly listening for a meal along the other side of the trail before it strolled up along the path and into the woods.



I also had the pleasure of bumping into local wildlife photographer Trish Carney, who was looking for bobcats along the same trail. I highly recommend checking out her website if you want to see some spectacular bobcat images (as well as many other species).

Quick Post -- Great Blue on Blue

Spent some time over the weekend with this handsome great blue heron while it hunted for a late dinner.