Quail and rattlesnake grass, Point Reyes National Seashore

When I was out in Point Reyes National Seashore last weekend, I wasn't seeing very much as I drove through the park. I started out by heading towards the outer peninsula, and I stopped by Drake's Beach, South Beach, and the Estero Trailhead while seeing very little. So I decided to take a drive up to Tomales Point, since I wanted to end up along the Abbott's Lagoon trail for sunset. After reaching Pierce Point Ranch without seeing a single quail or elk, I stopped at the McClure's Beach to eat my PB&J for dinner. As I sat there, I enjoyed my sandwich and was listening to the Giants pregame on KNBR. After I finished my meal and was going to stop at the restroom before leaving, I noticed this handsome quail sitting right in front of the car on a fence railing. Perhaps he was drawn to the melodic cadence of Jon Miller's voice on the radio?



Such a pleasant surprise to show up after I had resigned to a non-photographic outing for the evening. I spent the next 15 minutes shooting this quail first out of my open window, then with the door open (to get slightly closer), then from my tripod set up next to my car door.



I moved slowly between positions, and while I think he knew I was there, he was fairly indifferent. He was however, quite interested in his lady-friend, who spent most of the time in the tall grass behind the fence. Every now and then though he would get noticeably excited (quick, agitated movements, fluffed feathers) and then she would appear out in the open. Eventually, she had enough of the area and wandered off up the hill -- and he was quick to follow!



I was excited to be surprised by this handsome quail set against those lovely grasses backlit by the setting sun in the background. For those of you that are curious, the pods are rattlesnake grass (easy to see where it gets its name, no?), which is an invasive species in California.



More images from this area of the park in my Tomales Point Gallery.

Acorn woodpecker, Point Reyes National Seashore

The Bear Valley Visitor's Center in Point Reyes National Seashore is a great place to look for birds. Quail are almost always hanging around, there's a great blue heron that likes to hunt for gophers in the area, and in addition to many other birds in the trees, there is a family unit of acorn woodpeckers that maintain some granary trees right in the middle of the picnic area. Whenever the light is still reasonable on my way out of the park I'll stop by and check out these colorful birds.



Much to my delight on this trip, instead of having to crane my neck to watch the birds up high in the trees, this woodpecker was pecking away at eye level on the tree. It was so focused on chipping apart the bark, and apparently digging out insects from inside, that I was able to get quite close without disturbing it.

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The vertical frames are cropped from horizontal images, which isn't something I like to do on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I made the worst mistake a nature photographer can do before approaching the woodpecker -- I decided to leave my bag in the car, which held all of my extra memory cards. I almost always have an extra card in my jacket pocket, to make sure that this never happens. But on this day I made the mistake. So I fired away horizontally to get some establishing shots, and then just as I was getting ready to go vertical, I realized that I was out of "film". Very frustrated with myself for that one, since my long lens caught the attention of other visitors to the park, and after I walked away from the woodpecker to get another memory card, they proceeded to photograph it with their point and shoot -- which required getting way too close, and the bird flew off. Oh well, just another lesson of why you should always have an extra memory card in an accessible pocket and not in your bag (or in the car!).



This last shot was a bit of an experiment, as I tried to capture the motion of the bird as it pounded away at the bark. I'm not always a big fan of blurred images, but this characteristic motion almost works for me.



Visit my Bear Valley Visitor's Center Gallery.

Submitted to the World Bird Wednesday blog meme -- follow the link to check out this week's posts!

Dogwood blossoms, Yosemite National Park

During our May trip to Yosemite, the mountain dogwoods (Cornus nuttallii) were blooming all over the valley floor. It's amazing how much a tree full of these gorgeous flowers can brighten up a trail. As if the park isn't beautiful enough on its own, the addition of these flowers all along the river was stunning.



More wild flower blossoms in my Flowers & Plants Gallery.

Bridalveil Fall after late spring snow, Yosemite National Park

Returning back to some images from our mid-May trip to Yosemite National Park that included a late season snowfall for our last day there. This is Bridalveil Fall, as seen from across the river. The fall was flowing beautifully during our visit. In fact, we got quite wet on the short hike to its base, and you can see the cloud of mist rising above the trees in this image. For some perspective, Bridalveil Fall has a height of 620 feet.

More images from this trip are in my Yosemite Gallery.

Quail on gnarled branches, Point Reyes National Seashore

While driving on Pierce Point Road through the northern end of Point Reyes National Seashore, I can't drive by the Abbott's Lagoon parking lot without taking a swing through to look for quail. There always seem to be some around, and even though I was planning to start my day looking for elk near the Pierce Point Ranch on my most recent trip, I swung through the lot to have a peek as I passed.

Much to my delight, there was a large male sitting on a fence right in the parking lot. Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera and tripod out of the car, he had wandered into the bushes with his female, but it didn't take long to locate others. In fact, this was the highest density of quail I've ever seen in the park. They seemed to be everywhere along the trail to Abbott's Lagoon, with couples wandering through the pastures and males occupying high vantage points all throughout the coastal scrub. Some chose nice clean fenceposts, and others selected luxurious green bushes, but this particular quail selected the old gnarled branches of an coyote bush long past its prime.



View more in my Quail Gallery.