Elephant seal flippers

While on the beach with these guys, I spent a fair amount of time at the longest range of my zoom trying to work for some intimate portraits. Mostly I was focused on the faces of the old males and their wonderful big nose and textured chest shields. However, their flippers have always intrigued me as well.



They have five fingers within their flipper and each ends in a tiny little "flipper-nail" (for lack of a better term). While at first glance it seems to beg the question of why they would still evolutionarily need nails at the end, it does appear that they are good for scratching an itch upon occasion (although, one would think there might be a better reason as well).



It's really interesting to watch them use their flipper, as you can see that their bone structure really must be similar to ours, where there are multiple knuckles in their "fingers".

Relaxing on the beach

A quick post for this shot of another smaller male elephant seal taking a break on the much quieter Cove Beach of Ano Nuevo State Reserve. This beach is outside of the official wildlife protection area, meaning that for the seals its much quieter since there are only a few of them, and for the humans, it means that you can go to this beach without a guide. On the times we've gone in the past two years, there have been a handful of males, most of them smaller than the beachmasters ruling the harems in the official area, that appear to be happy to have a quiet beach to themselves.

Protecting the Harem

An elephant seal beachmaster defends his harem at Ano Nuevo State Reserve.



This was probably the largest alpha male that we saw on this trip, and he was a real brute. You can see how the chest shield of scar tissue that forms during their brutal battles extends nearly around the back of his neck, which means that he has done some serious fighting throughout his life. His reward for this is to be the chief protector and only mate of a harem of ladies.

In the above shot, he is moving at full tilt to fend off another male intruder. One of the females in the harem was calling loudly for a few minutes to alert the alpha male that she was uncomfortable with this newcomer, and once he decided to respond he moved quite quickly through the harem. The challenger was behind the dune from where we were standing, but apparently backed down since we didn't get to see a fight, and the alpha male then settled down for a nap where he stopped. Watching him move his huge mass so quickly was really awesome, he is surely a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, he was moving too fast for my shutter speed in the overcast light, and this was the only sharp frame I got of his burst.



This is a more traditional shot of the beachmaster, and why they call them elephant seals. It really shows off his long proboscis which is covered in scars from his battles and his serious chest shield. It is truly an awesome experience to be in their presence, and especially on the beach with them. A trip to Ano Nuevo State Reserve is a must for any wildlife lover in the area!

Elephant seal after dusk

I'll begin my series of elephant seals from our weekend trip to Ano Nuevo State Reserve with a few shots that were taken right at the end of our terrific trip. After our late afternoon tour we went back down to "Losers Beach" to spend the final minutes of light with some big brutes that usually camp out there. We had a chance to watch a younger guy displaying his toughness for a while, and as the last bit of light slipped out from behind the clouds and below the horizon I took a few final shots of this beast who was right near the stairs from the beach.



My wife had a lens with a wider zoom range, and she took some wonderful shots of the seals as part of their environment. Here's one of my favorites, with the last sliver of sunset included.

Great weekend for wildlife

I had a fantastic weekend for experiencing and photographing wildlife. We took a hike out to the end of Tomales Point in Point Reyes National Seashore, which goes through the Tule Elk Reserve there. We must have seen at least 100 elk along the trail! Then we also took our annual trip to Ano Nuevo State Reserve to see the elephant seals and their breeding season antics. As you can see here, this image is neither an elk or seal, but it was a shot that I had already processed and was just waiting to be uploaded. So since I have a few thousand shots to go through from this weekend and haven't had the time to do so yet, this is what I've got for now.



This shot was taken in a small dog park along the Bay Trail in Marin County near Bothin Marsh on Richardson Bay. I had used up the good morning light in the marsh but decided to wander up the trail to see if there was anything else interesting around. I wasn't expecting much, but a group of these little guys were playing in the shadows of some trees that hadn't yet seen the light of morning. This gave me some nice even lighting instead of the harshness that was in the rest of the park.

Birds from the San Diego Zoo -- Part 4

There were a ton of aviaries within the three parks we visited (San Diego Zoo, The San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park, and Sea World), which made for some great opportunities to photograph birds up close.


It felt like there were flamingos (both African and Caribbean) everywhere, and it was hard to pick just one shot to include.


This spoonbill was in the first exhibit we visited (of course it would be an aviary if I'm leading the way!) and you can see the sparkle of the early morning light in its eye.


I'm not sure what kind of bird this is, but I love that beautiful teal color


The penguin exhibit at SeaWorld was really cool -- they had both Emperor penguins (pictured) and King penguins, which are the two largest species.


If you enjoyed these images, please view more of my bird photographs in my Birds Galleries.

Out of Africa -- San Diego Zoo, Part 3

Another post in my San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park series from our December trip there. To try to have some logical grouping of the photos I wanted to share, I've picked a handful of species that come from the African continent.

We took the tram tour through the Wild Animal Park, which was themed to be the African plains, and was quite nice, although its not included in the general admission price, and is the only way to see a large part of the park. We got to see a variety of antelope, the only species of African deer, multiple rhino species, as well as this sleepy young giraffe.


When I was young, warthogs were one of my favorite animals (which my mom still laughs about), but as I've gotten older, I think the Red River Hog has replaced them on my list. These guys are just a bit more charismatic, and you have to love that gorgeous color.


The hippo exhibit was really great with the large underwater viewing area. The first time we stopped by, the hippo pair was on its way out of the water and went into the back where you couldn't really see them. We were disappointed and decided to come back later -- and we just happened to pick the perfect time to do so, as it was just when they were coming back into the water. This male took a lap around the tank then came over to check me out eye-to-eye (photo by my wife).


This cute little klipspringer was in the African Kopje (Rock Outcrop) exhibit. They had really interesting hooves that looked as if they stood on their tip toes. I suspect it was to help it keep its grip on its world of jumping between rocks. It rained a lot while we were in the park, but this is one of the few shots where I brought the camera out -- and I liked how the drops showed up with the longer shutter speeds.


Here's another zebra shot, since they put on a nice show for us

Happy New Year & Favorites of 2009

I'm back in Northern California after our very busy but great holiday travels, and I wanted to wish you all a (belated) Happy New Year! I still have a handful of images from late 2009 that I haven't had the chance to post yet (including probably two more sets from the San Diego Zoo), but I thought I would start off a new year with a recap of my favorite photos that I took in 2009 (as inspired by Jim Goldstein's annual Blog Project). Last year was a really fun year for me photographically, as I had some of the best wildlife encounters I've ever experienced, as well as upgrades to both a longer lens and a new camera.


In no particular order, here's my Fine Fifteen from 2009.

Without a doubt this was one of my favorite shots from last year -- it even appeared as an editor's choice in the Autumn Issue of The Nature Conservancy's magazine.


When I went to Ano Nuevo State Reserve in January, we opted for a late day tour, since we had done an early one the previous year. It turned out that we were always facing into the sun when viewing the elephant seals, which made for poor photo conditions. However, we luckily decided to walk one of the other beaches in the park for the sunset, and were treated to great light on three spectacular giants.


As I wrote about when I posted this one, I am still searching for my 'perfect' shot of the bridge in the fog, but this one did turn out nicely.


My Halloween outing to Point Reyes was one of my favorite wildlife experiences I've ever had (posted as a four part series, see part one here). I had never before spent time with a wild coyote up close, and the deer gave some great poses too. This was one of those times that the experience makes the images better in my mind than they may actually be, and I had to limit myself to picking just two.


Spending this much time with a coyote is something I won't soon forget.


Over the summer, I had the opportunity to get a nice series of this willet in the overcast early morning light.


This shot was an attempt on my part to make the conscious effort to get out of my comfort zone and take images that were not wildlife based. There was something attractive to me about this tumbleweed shape in the sands of Point Reyes.


A classic pose of a dowitcher preening from the ponds at Radio Road.


This was the closest I've ever been able to get to oystercatchers, as a trio of them were quite relaxed along the rocks at Point Lobos State Reserve. The overcast skies made for some dreary scenery, but also for a great exposure of their black plumage against the sandstone.


Taking a friendly charge from this guy was quite a thrill, and he gave me this awesome pose as my prize for not ducking under the bench I was sitting on.


I'm a sucker for both preening birds and Northern Shovelers -- so put them together, and this had to be one of my favorites.


This great blue heron was kind enough to allow me to work my way in quite close for some full-frame portraits.


After finding very few birds along the beach at Limantour Spit, this sparrow was waiting for me in the parking lot when I returned to the car.


It was a pleasure to watch a small group of godwits feeding in the surf at Drake's Beach in Point Reyes.


A small waterfall on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, WA.


Here's to hoping that 2010 gives all of us even more memories, and some stunning photos too.

Predators at the San Diego Zoo -- Part 2

Another set of shots from our trip to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. In an attempt to post these in some sort of logical fashion, I've put up a set of predators.

This magnificent lion was camped out on top of an old SUV that is part of its territory in the Wild Animal Park. Each time we passed him by he was sound asleep, but for a brief moment he lifted his head to look around, and quite thankfully, I had my lens on him at the time!



The eyes on this beautiful cat just pull you in:


It was raining while we watched the otters, but clearly, they could care less.


While not as charismatic as the above predators, I've always been fascinated by our largest living lizard species. This guy was quite large, and happy to pose for shots behind the glass.


Isn't this guy cute? Not a baby, this is a dwarf crocodile. Taken by my darling wife, who was manning the wide-angle camera at the zoo.

Charsimatic bears, that aren't really bears -- San Diego Zoo, Part 1

My true passion as a photographer is to try to capture an image of wild animals that can get an emotion to stir within a viewer, and up to this point, I've only posted truly wild animals both on this blog and on my Flickr stream. However, our recent trip to the San Diego Zoo was just too much fun to not share.



Two of the highlights of our zoo trip was to see the pandas and koalas at the San Diego Zoo. These guys were really cute to see in person, and a pleasure to watch. Two pandas were on display while we were there, and there was a live video feed into the den of a baby. The first time we stopped by the exhibit, the pandas were both napping, and while cool to see, it wasn't necessarily a highlight.



However, when we came back a second time one of the bears was up and active, and we got to watch her move around the enclosure and snack on a lot of bamboo.







The koalas were a real treat too! There were a surprising number of them sprinkled throughout the exhibit.