Category Archives: wildlife

Ospreys on the Docks

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AU0E1643.jpgI might have been visiting Mare Island to see the museum and surrounding area but I also got to fit in some wildlife viewing while I was there.  I had stepped out of the back of the museum towards one of the dry docks.  One of the guys working in a business nearby starting chatting and saying how he wished he had a long lens with him to photograph the ospreys.  I could hear a lot of noise but he pointed out the source.  All of the high structures around the docks be they cranes or gantries seemed to have a nest on them.  Ospreys were all over the place.  They had access to the fishing in the water a short distance away so the metalwork was providing a great vantage point with plenty of privacy.

AU0E1670.jpgThe noise from the nest close to me was pretty loud.  A chick was obviously awaiting some food.  At first I thought the parents were going to come right in but then I realized that there were so many nests that the birds I could see flying were not necessarily anything to do with this chick.  I don’t know whether it had worked that out, though, given the noise it was making when any bird came close.  I have no idea how much the nest impact the operation of the machinery and whether there are any restrictions on what can be done when they are in place but they are clearly all over the place.

Hawk Hunting

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AU0E0102.jpgOn occasions you get lucky and something comes right to you. However, that is not always the way and sometimes you are just never quite in the right place. A Hawk was running along a ridge-line next to a drainage channel near me. I saw it first from a distance and figured it would be long gone by the time I got to the area. Apparently not. As I came alongside the ridge, it flew towards me before gentling drifting along the ridge in the direction I was traveling, i.e. away from me. As it got the end of the ridge it wheeled around to the other side. I figured it would soon repeat the process given the way the wind was blowing onto the ridge. Next time I would be perfectly placed for it to come towards me. I guess it never read the plan. I didn’t see it again. Therefore, the only shots I got were a little distant.

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Mallards Getting Frisky

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.