Category Archives: wildlife

Mallards Getting Frisky

AU0E0144.jpgThis is the time of year when the wildlife starts to get a bit interested in mating.  This can result in some battles between competing individuals but, while walking alongside a river, I saw a couple of mallard ducks behaving pretty strangely.  One was male and one female so I think they may have been interested in each other but their behavior was sufficiently strange that I couldn’t be sure that was actually the case.

AU0E0115.jpgInitially they were splashing around in the water.  They would seem to dive just below the surface and flap around down there making a lot of noise and moving quite randomly – not necessarily towards each other.  It would stop for a while and then start again.  Very odd behavior to the uninitiated.  After this had gone on for a while, one of them took off followed by the other.  They then appeared to wheel around the sky with a tail chase underway.  This also went on for quite a while before they landed back where they had started and everything seemed to revert to normal.  Anyone who knows what was going on, please let me know in the comments.

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Egrets in Hayward

AU0E9952.jpgThe marsh areas along the shore of San Francisco Bay in Hayward are a popular spot for birds. Egrets are certainly a common bird in this area so seeing some of them while walking along the trails in the area was no surprise. I was interested to see how close you could get without disturbing them. The area is popular with people so they probably are relatively used to having people around. Even so, I did not want to cause them any disturbance. As it was, they seemed far more focused on whatever they were going to eat next than they were of me.

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Dog Sled Demonstration

C59F1513.jpgUnless you live in the mountains, California winters are not a time for much thought about snow.  However, I did find myself thinking back to an event we went to a couple of time when we lived in Chicago.  Morton Arboretum is located in Lisle, west of the city, and was a favorite place for us to visit.  In any season it was a pretty place to walk.  During the winter, they would put on a demonstration of dog sledding and this could be fun to watch.

C59F1367.jpgA course would be set up through the trees so there were plenty of places in which you could set yourself up to watch the action.  The runs would take place at various times throughout the day and between them you could go and talk to the people and meet the dogs.  They were certainly energetic creatures and, I imagine, they would be a real handful to have in a house.  Let the buyer beware!

C59F1479.jpgThe snow was not too deep on this occasion so it was relatively straightforward to head out around the course and get set for the teams when they came through.  Most of them had things well under control but sometimes a single dog sled would appear and the dog might get a little distracted by all of the cool smelling stuff around them.  At this point, the person would appear to be doing more of the pushing and the dog less of the pulling.

C59F1635.jpgShooting in the snow is always a little interesting.  The brightness of the snow itself contrasts a lot with the shadows in the surrounding trees.  This is when shooting RAW really helps as you can get a lot more out of the shots.

Elephant Seals

C59F3055.jpgFor the last two years I have been to Ano Nuevo for the sunrise photo tour amongst the elephant seals. This year I decided I didn’t need to get there before the sun came up. However, Nancy was interested in seeing them and she wanted to try getting some shots with her new Nikon P900. Therefore, we decided to take one of the other tours that occurs during the mating season, albeit during more sociable hours. We still went for the morning event and it turned out to be a good plan.

C59F2724.jpgUnlike the sunrise tour, the groups are much larger and you are not driven out. Consequently, you have to carry everything you want with you. It makes picking your gear a slightly more careful decision process. The sun was out and it was a very pleasant morning. There were a few locations that the docents took us to and, while the males had picked some good locations right on the paths, we were still able to get to see a lot of the seals.

C59F2828.jpgThe weather had been wet which meant there was a lot of water inland and this appeals to the males who come to find a puddle to rest in and, occasionally, practice fighting. This is clearly not serious combat as the whole thing is a bit halfhearted. When you see the real fights, you are left in no doubt they mean it. We did get to see a lot of the colony and enjoy the nice weather. All in all, a pretty good second option.

 

Hello Cows

C59F1919.jpgOur friends, Rich and Julie, have a great house in Lancashire which is in a small village that has a lot of farm land around it. The fields surrounding their house provide grazing land for some cows. I needed to go out to the edge of the fields to get some shots of the sunset and the cows in the field found my presence a curiosity that they could not resist. They came across and started leaning as far as they could across the fencing to try and lick me. I don’t know why licking me seemed to be so appealing! I was trying to get my shots so wanted to avoid them if possible but they were pretty tenacious so each time I moved, so did they.

C59F1920.jpgThey were pretty sweet animals. They weren’t at all threatening – just curious about what was going on. I obviously wasn’t cooperating with their curiosity and eventually they got bored with me and moved on with their mission to eat all of the grass in sight.

The Whales Are Out There

C59F7613.jpgMy sister has pretty amazing eyesight. Her ability to spot things before the rest of us has shown itself on many occasions. I have often been wondering if she is just making things up only to finally see what she saw. To all my pilot friends, I would recommend her as a second pair of eyes anytime.

C59F7633.jpgWe were taking a trip along the Pacific coast while they were over visiting recently and she said she had seen a whale. This is by no means unusual along this stretch of coast but, even so, I was a little unsure if it really was a whale. Turns out it wasn’t a whale. It was at least five of them. They were a little way offshore but there they were. Plenty of spouts of spray from blowholes and the occasional sighting of bodies as they came to the surface. It was a shame that they were so far out but at least they got some whales for their visit.

Bobcats

C59F7693.jpgComing down off Mount Hamilton in the car, my sister, who has the sharpest eyes of anyone I know, said she had seen some cats. I was a bit surprised by this but turned around to have a look. It turns out these were two bobcats. They were already moving off through the tress by the time we got back but I got some distant shots of them as they went. How she saw them I have no idea.

Ridgeway’s Rail

AU0E2370.jpgThe shore of San Francisco Bay is home to many varieties of bird life. I was walking along the water’s edge with my friend Roger one afternoon when he asked me whether I had ever seen a Ridgeway’s Rail. I confessed I had no idea what it was so also had no idea whether I had ever seen one. He told me that it is a species that is not widespread and mainly confined to the Bay Area. They are shy birds and so not common to see.

AU0E2522.jpgIt can’t have been too long after this conversation that Roger spots – you guessed it – a Ridgeway’s Rail. Not only did he spot this thing but it then decided to try and disprove any thoughts about it being shy. It wandered along in front of us feeding constantly. Occasionally it would go out of sight as it dropped into some thicker foliage but it would soon reappear and keep feeding, occasionally looking up at us to make sure we were taking its picture. We found the most demonstrative example of the species apparently.

AU0E2484.jpgIf you have never seen a Ridgeway’s Rail, this is what it looks like. If you want to see one for real, meet up with Roger and have him tell you about how rare they are and this guy will surely show up shortly afterwards!

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What is This Bird?

AU0E1889.jpgWhile I was down by San Francisco Bay, a bird came flying towards me and I took some shots purely for panning practice. I thought it was a gull or a tern so I was only bothered by trying to get steady shots. However, when I look at it, the bird has the beak of a raptor. I have no idea what it is. Does anyone out there know?

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