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!

Olympic marmot

We spent our holiday weekend on the Olympic peninsula in Washington State, and had an awesome trip filled with great views and interesting wildlife! One of the highlights off of my rather lengthy wish-list for this too short trip was to see the Olympic marmot, which is an endemic species to the peninsula. We found this wonderful specimen sunning itself along the trail in Olympic National Park, near the Obstruction Point area.



To give a little perspective on the views these guys enjoy, here's a frame with some of the Olympic range in the backdrop.



Here's a slightly different take on this pose as well, with the nearer hillside in the backdrop instead. I'm not quite sure which I like better, but I think I'm more drawn to the colors in the top frame.

This one looks tasty

A bull tule elk in Point Reyes National Seashore checking out what looks to be a delicious branch of lupine.

Separated from chaos

Harbor seals resting on offshore rocks, well away from the crashing waves behind them. Taken at MacKerricher State Park, near Fort Bragg, CA.

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.

Browsing tule elk in Point Reyes National Seashore

A male Tule elk along Tomales Point Trail in Point Reyes National Seashore browsing for a snack. This is one of the same bulls that started to fight as we watched them a bit later in the day.

Sandpiper inspection

After following a small flock of these guys around the beach for at least half an hour, this curious one decided to check out what exactly the slow crawling monster with the giant lens coming out of his nose was. He tentatively ran over pretty close to me, gave me a few up and down glances, and then scurried back to the group. Apparently I was deemed no threat (probably because they saw the glacial speed at which I was moving while belly crawling after them through the sand), or perhaps they found me to an acceptable proxy of a new kind of sandpiper species (well, I'm not so sure about that!). Either way, it was a real pleasure to have a chance to photograph them with some summer color.

Quail in a sea of gold, Point Reyes National Seashore

Two more shots from my Weekend of the Quail in May of this year (previous posts from this weekend are here, here, and here). I saw this guy perched a little way off the trail and in front of a beautiful valley of golden wildflowers. This normally skittish species actually let me approach over what must have taken 10-15 minutes to get into the right position. Every now and then he would glance my way (see below), but was totally cool with my approach, and let me snap off a lot of frames with this awesome backdrop.

Evenly matched

A quick post from the many shots I took yesterday on a hike out the Tomales Point Trail in Point Reyes National Seashore to see the tule elk rut. Here are two males trying to determine their ranking order. We watched both of these guys get run out of a harem by a larger male earlier in the day (no fight, these two just ran to the outskirts while the other male introduced himself to the females), and then after hanging out and feeding peacefully together on the edge of the harem they eventually came to blows to figure out who is the next bull in line, I suppose. There was no clear winner in this fight to us, and as quickly as it started, they stopped and went back to feeding near each other, apparently satisfied with the results of the quarrel for the time being.

It was really awesome to see a scuffle like this up close, and what stands out most about this shot to me is the intensity of their eyes while they fought. During the live action it was just a slow shoving match. But when you get to see these frozen moments in time, the intensity of the fight really comes to life.

View more of my photographs of tule elk in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Fogscape in Point Reyes National Seashore

Thick early morning fog shrouds the sandstone bluffs around Limantour Spit and the entrance to Drake's Estero in Point Reyes National Seashore. I do enjoy the fog since it gives that nice diffuse light all morning long, but I don't know that I can remember the last time it was sunny for a sunrise in the Bay Area.

Against the grain

Even when everyone is running in one direction, sometimes its not a bad idea to take a step in the other.

Sanderlings on an overcast evening at Pillar Point Harbor.

Fast

Everything about sanderlings seems to happen fast.



They run across the sand fast, they change directions fast, they takeoff fast and land fast.



And sometimes they even come flying into the frame a little too fast.



It would have been great to have some more space on the left of this shot, but sometimes things just happen too fast.

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.

In the crowd

A group of sanderlings in summer plumage along the shoreline of Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay. The late afternoon was overcast under a heavy fog that just seems to be around all day, every day this summer in the Bay Area. However, I don't really mind the fog as it means there's a longer window for photography both in the morning and evening, and the colors in their plumage come out nice against the bleak scenery.

Sanderling times two

Sanderling duos in summer colors running with the waves at Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay. There was a decent sized flock of maybe 40-50 birds there last weekend, however, there were also plenty of dogs around that loved to give chase. So I had to get my shots in between the flocks being spooked and flying off to a different area before eventually being chased by a different dog and coming back to where I was.

Quail on the lookout

The California quail, state bird of its namesake, is really quite beautiful with its varied plumage patterns. During much of the year it can be challenging to capture these birds out in the open. However, early in the breeding season (this shot is from mid-May) the males are much more willing to make a spectacle of themselves while hoping to draw the attention of a female. Unfortunately for this one who set up his lookout post along the trail, there was only a nosy photographer around.

Late evening avocet

It's been far too long since I've posted a shot of a shorebird, and I'm glad to fix that with this American avocet at the Radio Road Ponds in Redwood City. It's getting to that exciting time of year when the shorebirds are passing through the Bay Area from their summer on the tundra, and its always fun when you get to see some of the birds we normally get here in their basic plumage all decked out in their breeding colors. Of course, avocets are resident birds around the Bay, so we can take advantage of their beautiful colors all summer long.

As an aside, the Radio Road Ponds are a great place to kill time while waiting to pick someone up from the airport. It's pretty easy acess to the 101, and only about 15 minutes from SFO. I took this shot just after the sun had set while waiting for my wife's flight to land.

Sea lion portrait

Two takes on this peaceful sea lion at the Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. I like the late light reflecting in the water on the first one, but I'm partial to having the flipper in the second shot. Either way it was nice to see these guys in a more quiet setting than I have in the past.

Sunset at Kehoe Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore

A typical summer sunset at Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seahsore -- with the marine layer of fog already in place.

View more photos from Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore.

California sea lions, on the rocks

A group of California sea lions in a relatively quiet moment as they settle in for the evening at Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, CA.

Song Sparrow and Flowers

A song sparrow perched among the wildflowers on a walk to Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. This was taken on the same hike through the flowers as was the white-crowned sparrow I posted last week.

Singing red-winged blackbird

From an April walk at the Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility in Petaluma. Treatment wetlands are a great place to find birds, and my first tour of that area did not disappoint as this male blackbird was singing in the flowers along the trail.



He's really belting out his characteristic song -- a sound that always reminds me of the arrival of spring.

Contentment

When looking at this seal lounging on the rocks, I can't help but see a big, contented smile on its face. Taken from an overlook along the trail at Point Lobos State Reserve in the Monterey area.

Sparrow on a Stick, Point Reyes National Seashore

On this hike along the Kehoe Beach Trail in Point Reyes National Seashore, the wildflowers were nearly overgrowing the trail. It was quite an experience to walk through a sea of flowers nearly as tall as I was, and the birds seemed to be enjoying it even more than me. This is a white-crowned sparrow that had perched itself in an area of all yellow flowers.

Snowy plovers on the beach

If you walk far enough down Limantour Spit in Point Reyes National Seashore you're very likely to encounter these threatened shorebirds. My walk on this day in March was no exception, and I had a chance to snap off a few shots as they scurried down the beach.



I like the pose and the breeding plumage of the plover on the left in this frame, but unfortunately, they only stayed in this position for a few moments, and I wasn't able to get a shot without that distracting stick in it.

Quiet moments at the wharf

My wife and I always enjoy a quick weekend trip to Monterey when we get a chance, and we were down that way over the July 4th weekend. While I was unfortunately fogged out of doing photography at Moss Landing State Beach as I had hoped, we had an unexpected surprise with a sizeable group of California sea lions drawing crowds at the Old Fisherman's Wharf.



When we walked by on our way to dinner the sea lions were as noisy as they usually are, barking loudly and generally making a ruckus. But after we had our meal and were heading out, the last of the light was drifting below the trees and the sea lions were much more subdued.



It seemed to be mostly younger animals in the group, with only one large male along the shore, and this youngster appeared to be enjoying quiet warmth of the last rays of sunshine before they slipped below the horizon.

Male Quail at Tomales Point

After a few weeks of traveling for a conference, a holiday in Europe, and visiting family, I'm back to the grind back at work and finally taking a few minutes to post a new image, with the goal of getting back to the regular pace of an image around every other day or so. In addition, I've increased the size of the blog page, since Flickr is now using a larger medium image size, and I like the increased detail of the 640 pixel image.



This is a male California quail being as conspicuous as possible while trying to attract a mate (and perhaps a friendly photographer?). I took this shot on a weekend in May in which I was inundated in quail photography opportunities. This was actually among my goals for the trips I made to Point Reyes and Tennessee Valley, and I loved the many chances to photograph our striking state bird. This male is sitting on an old log near the Tomales Point Trailhead in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Sunrise at Chimney Rock

From the same April Hike as my previous few posts -- a sea of wildflowers covering the ground with the sandstone cliffs that are so characteristic of Point Reyes National Seashore in the background.

Quail on a post, with a personal note

On a trip to Point Reyes National Seashore in April, my wife agreed to wake up with me way before a reasonable hour on a Sunday so that we could be at Chimney Rock for the sunrise to enjoy what has been quoted as one of the best wildflower displays in the Bay Area. (Including the Douglas Irises kissed with the first rays of light shown above.) She’s so wonderfully supportive of my crazy photographic antics, and while she begrudgingly accepts the alarm going off before 4:30am on a weekend, she always enjoys our nature encounters as much as I do. However, she couldn’t help but chuckle at me when I told her that one of my goals for this trip was to capture a male California quail displaying on a pole.

I saw this bird doing exactly what I had envisioned as we were driving out of the park, but we were past it before I had time to stop. Being the ever helpful person that she is, she hopped in the driver’s seat, turned the car around, and took me back to the quail, who was still displaying proudly on his post beside the road. Unfortunately, there was no place to pull off of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard there, so I could only snap off a few shots before we had to move on due to some traffic coming up behind us. However, knowing that I wasn't yet satisfied with what I had, she happily made another set of u-turns so that we could go back for a second round of shots. And that, my friends, is a sign of true love! (This post is in commemoration of our first date, 9 incredible years ago today!)

Long-tailed weasel, Point Reyes National Seashore

I’ve come to appreciate the fact that not everyone finds wildlife encounters to be as truly thrilling as I do. After a relatively boring hike out to Abbott’s Lagoon (in terms of photographic opportunities), I was fairly resigned to be out of chances to make an interesting image for the day. However, my ever constant scan for wildlife came up with a huge score when I saw this adorable mustelid standing tall in the pasture along the trail. I was stoked! The long-tailed weasel is an animal that I’ve wanted a chance to see for a while, but I figured that it wasn't likely to ever happen.



We saw him take a few leaps and chases at something, although he never came up with a snack. It was fun to watch him disappear down one gopher hole and then have to scan the area to see where he would pop up next.



While the pictures themselves aren’t anything special (harsh midday light and cropped significantly), crossing a new wildlife species off of my list is always fantastic, and I was excited to tell anyone about it when we got back. Alas, the odd looks on the faces of the people I told reassured me that it takes a, umm, *special* kind of person to get so excited about encountering a weasel.

Now that I’ve got that one off the list, here’s to hoping a get a chance at a badger!