Category Archives: wildlife

Ridgeway’s Rail

The 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.

It 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.

If 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!

What is This Bird?

Leave a Reply

While 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?

Brother Bear

Leave a Reply

Bears are not known as being the most active creatures in zoo environments. They may wander around sniffing for food or take a dip but they are just as likely to be sleeping as anything. Getting some more activity is, therefore, a reason for some celebration. The reason was that the enclosure had two Grizzlies that are brothers. Put two tough brothers together and guess what happens. They start fighting.

Nothing dramatic. None of this was serious. Just the sort of sparring that boys will do if no one stops them. Of course, they do fight behind some branches so you don’t have quite as clear a view as would be ideal. Even so, watching them wrestle and bare their teeth at each other was a lot of fun.

Gorillas

Leave a Reply

Go to any zoo and, if there is a gorilla enclosure, you will find a lot of people. I suspect there are many reasons why people like gorillas but the similarity they have to us is probably one of the big ones. The hierarchy of their groups is also interesting and so it proved to be while we were in San Diego. One male seemed to be testing how much of the enclosure he could control. He would sit quietly in one spot for a while and the other male would find a spot to hang out somewhere out of the way.

Then the prime would decide to move. Surprisingly enough, he would always go roughly where the other male was. He would make himself scarce. He might then sneak around the back in the diction of the spot the prime had previously been. I think you can guess what happened next. This game went on for quite a while – longer than I was prepared to watch it.

Needless to say, if you are looking for similarities between gorillas and humans, go for the intimidation and pettiness elements. You should see some close parallels. It is hard to see which one is more advanced in that case!

Baby Hippo

Leave a Reply

Plenty of wildlife shots make their way on to this blog. However, the ones that get the most responses are those that involve baby animals. The cuteness factor usually does the trick. Today we shall combine a creature that is not usually known for being cute (although I do find them fascinating) with the baby element to see what results. Is a baby hippo cute?

If the responses of the visitors to San Diego Zoo are anything to go by, definitely. This baby was really very young. It was in the enclosure with its mum and the mother was teaching it to swim. They were hanging out in the water under some foliage to make the most of the shade. Periodically, they would take a swim with her pushing the baby ahead of her under water. If it popped up to the surface, she would push it back under to get it used to being under for long periods of time.

A couple of laps of the pool and then back under the foliage to take a break before repeating the process. Getting shots was not easy. First, mum was pretty protective and blocked the view of the baby a lot. It would pop up occasionally. Of course, shooting through thick glass doesn’t help. Once they were swimming there were better chances. However, the tank glass is thick and the distortion at angles is significant. Also, there were a ton of people also trying to get a view.

Despite all of this, we did get a chance to see the baby swimming around. It really was a very cute looking thing. The pictures will not be worthy of anything beyond the blog but they are a nice snapshot of the early days of a creature that will soon be a lot bigger. By the time this posts, I imagine it will have grown substantially.

Flamingos

Leave a Reply

Time for something colorful. Our trip to San Diego included a visit to the San Diego Zoo. Recognized around the world, this is a high quality zoo with a wide variety of animals. They seemed to be investing heavily in new enclosures for the animals which is something I appreciate a lot. The more exotic creatures are not the subject today. It is a bird and a distinctive one at that. Flamingos are a curious looking bird. Their color comes from their food so I assume the zoo has to make sure they get the right stuff to keep them looking pink. No one is going to be excited by a dull looking flamingo!

As a kid, there was a Flamingo park not far from where I lived. Consequently, I have never thought of them as exotic – just interesting. I did spend some time watching them though. The shape of their head and beak is unusual and the way they balance, rest and feed makes them worthy of some time. One day I would like to see them in the wild because they must look even better in flight!

Jackrabbit

Leave a Reply

Photographing aircraft can often involve quiet times when you are waiting for something to show up. Sometimes, you can get so relaxed and still that you cease to be apparent to the local wildlife. I was sitting at the top of a hill on a bench doing nothing much at all. A jackrabbit came wandering along the trail towards me. He wasn’t terribly close and only seemed to notice me relatively late. He didn’t seem too alarmed but was a bit wary. Even so, I was able to raise my camera to get a shot or two of him.

This didn’t startle him either. However, he obviously had other things in mind and he turned and hopped off down the trail. I wonder which one of us was more surprised?

Egret in Balboa

Leave a Reply

Some animals seem to like attention. Even when they are supposed to be afraid of humans, they end up being the center of attention. Such was the case with an egret that was standing in the water in Balboa Park. At first I thought it was a plastic model but, once it started moving, it was clearly real. Everyone was distracted by it. Some kids were keen to get their hands on it but the parents seemed to do just enough to stop it getting spooked which was quite surprising.

I assume it was attracted to the fish living in the water feature. However, they seemed to be wise enough to stay away. Whether it got any food or not, I don’t know. It stayed around for quite a while and I left first. When I came back, it was gone. Whether it was bored or knew of a better lunch spot, I shall never know.

Strange Branch Texture

Leave a Reply

As we wandered around the botanic garden in Balboa Park, I was quite interested in a plant that had branches with an odd oval shape repeated across their surface. I mentioned it to Nancy and she had seen something similar in another part of the garden but that had been cut off. The cross section of the branch was more interesting than the surface apparently.

We spent a short while hunting for where she had seen this before and when we found it, she was proved correct. The outside of the branch had the same pattern as I had seen earlier. The inside was certainly unusual. Rather than try and describe it, I shall just let you take a look for yourselves.

Bald Eagles

Leave a Reply

Our days in Chicago put me within reach of some great opportunities to photograph bald eagles. The rivers in Illinois often freeze during the winter and any locations where the water stays open are popular with birds that need access to fish. The lock and dam complexes along the big rivers provide the perfect places since they water flowing over the dam makes for an ice free spot and it doesn’t hurt that the fish can often get stunned as they come over the dam which makes them an easy target for the eagles.

I made a number of trips out to photograph the birds. Starved Rock State Park was the first place we tried and, while we saw a lot off eagles and they were not too far away, the lighting was pretty unfriendly. Some further research showed that the Mississippi from Dubuque down to the Quad Cities was a better bet and I ended up making several trips out there. The first time we stayed out there and incorporated the search for the birds into our visit. Latterly, I knew where to go and made a day trip from Chicago. I also learned to not worry about getting there early but to focus on being there at the end of the day when the light was at its best. Even so, you never knew whether you would have good weather, cooperation wind and whether there would be many birds.

I have been there when there were more birds than I could count. I have also been there when it is pretty sparse. However, it has never been a total bust. You get both immature and adult birds. Depending on how much ice there is, they can be scattered along the river or confined to near your location. After trying a few spots, I ended up at Lock and Dam 14 with a bunch of guys I knew. Photographing birds in the winter seems to be a popular pastime for guys who spend their summers photographing planes!

The shots here were taken across a number of visits. Now we have moved west, I doubt I shall be back at this location for a while. However, I have some great memories of being there and also testing the qualities of cold weather clothing, gloves, hand and feet warmers and camera batteries! Good times.