Tag Archives: wildlife

Muir Woods

Having visitors is always a good excuse to go to places that you haven’ been to for a while. Muir Woods National Monument was one such destination. If only we had known just how many other people had the same idea, we might have aimed to get there a lot earlier in the day. As it was, we got there a bit alter in the afternoon. A short while later and it might have been a lot easier to park. Of course, late in the day in winter means fading light and being in a heavily wooded area means even less light!

Muir Woods is a great place to wander. Having a lot of other visitors means it is a little less tranquil. My previous visits have obviously been off peak and usually involved colder and damper weather. This time it was dry and warm(ish). The trees are majestic and often interestingly shaped. However, being so close to such large trees as coastal redwoods does make it hard to get the images that you have in your mind.

The light is tricky and the angles wide. Some playing with HDR and panoramas certainly helped out. Sometimes it was just fun to look straight up. The shapes there are exactly as you imagine them. The dynamic range is so large that even HDR doesn’t always cover it (at least the way I was bracketing the shots) but it still worked out okay.

Llamas

Leave a Reply

No long story for this one. A llama farm was beside the road in Albion and I wandered over to see the animals one morning as they grazed. They seemed mildly interested in me for a while and then kept eating. I grabbed some shots of them and then went on my way. I know llamas are hardly a rarity these days but it is still interesting to see them.

Seals

Leave a Reply

Our coastline jaunt took us further south to Monterey. We have been there before a couple of times on vacations so almost didn’t go but I was tempted to see whether there were any Sea Otters mucking around close to shore. As it turned out, either there weren’t or they were doing a good job of being somewhere other than where I was.

However, there were a couple of seals hanging around in one inlet. Sea lions are very common along this coastline and seals are not rare either. However, I always feel like the sea lions are more conspicuous and seeing the seals somehow feels more unexpected. Given how many there are, this is probably a dopey thing to think but that wouldn’t be a first for me. Anyway, one of the seals was resting on a rock while another was swimming around. It’s possible there were two different seals in the water but I couldn’t be sure so I shall only claim one covering a fair bit of ground. While they are ungainly creatures when out of the water, they can certainly cover some distance in a hurry once in the water. I got the feeling the one in the water wanted the rock but it didn’t look like he was going to be lucky any time soon!

Whales

Leave a Reply

A short distance along the coast from our beach overlook we came to a lighthouse. This seemed like a popular part of the shoreline on a Sunday, even though the weather wasn’t great. I imagine on a sunny day, it is full of people along here. We strolled along the shore and out towards the point on which the lighthouse was built. The sea was looking very calm and out a distance we could see a number of kayakers in a loose group. Initially we had no idea what they were up to and assumed it was just a nice place to be. Then we saw something we had not expected.

A plume of spray followed closely by another signaled the presence of some whales. They were not far offshore and were coming in our general direction. I don’t know how to recognize whales unless they are of a few distinct types but I know that they get grey whales along here so I am going to guess that this is what they were.

They made pretty good progress along the coast and the kayakers were following at a discrete distance. I suspect for some that had been waiting ahead of the route, they got a pretty good view as the whales came through. We tracked them for a while. The problem with taking pictures of whales is that you don’t immediately know where they are. The clear their blowholes and you get a nice plume but that is often the first sign and it is dissipating by the time you get the camera on it. However, the shots are secondary in this compared to being there to see it.

Cormorants

Leave a Reply

There have been a few cormorant posts of late on the blog so, if those were not your thing, look away now. Santa Cruz may have had a large colony of pelicans as described here but it also was not short of cormorants. They were busy zipping back and forth along the coast, sadly not often coming too close to our location but we did get an occasional look.

More fascinating was watching them land on the rocks. The pelicans seemed to be clearly in charge of things but the cormorants did have some spots they were taking up. However, good landing areas seemed in short supply for them. Instead, they took a rather more direct approach. They would fly right at the rock face and flare into what seemed like an impact with the rock. In doing so, they would grab on to something and then clamber up the rocks to their colleagues.

It all looked rather like hard work but, if you are lowing on the pecking order (and with a bill the size of a pelican’s, who wouldn’t be) I guess you have to be innovative.

Pelicans

Leave a Reply

The California coast provides a lot of different options for places to go to and things to see. We decided to take a day trip along the coast south of the Bay Area and started out in Santa Cruz. A little previous research had suggested some possible places of interest. Unfortunately, the weather that had been forecast was a little optimistic. However, even on a cloudy day, the ocean is a great place to be.

We arrived at one state beach and found an overlook that gave a view of the beach and a couple of rocky outcrops that were absolutely covered in pelicans. Not only were they on the rocks but there were plenty of them soaring about the area as well. Given how many were in the air, I suspect there wouldn’t have been enough space on the rocks for them all it once!

They would soar about in formation heading up and down the coast with our position being right under some of the flightpaths. At a distance, gliding pelicans look great. When they are just over your head, you become acutely aware of just how large they are and how, if they want to come where you are, you would be wise to move aside.

The formations flying around were fun to watch but almost as much fun was watching them landing on the rocks. With a spot identified, a lot of wing activity was required to bring them to a halt where they wanted. I could have stayed there for hours watching the fun.

Beaulieu

Leave a Reply

Continuing our UK trip, we were still in the New Forest and I wanted to visit Beaulieu. It is many years since I have been to Beaulieu. My grandparents took me there once and we went with the school on one occasion too. However, I wasn’t interested in visiting the motor museum on this occasion. Certainly, if I had a lot more time, I would have loved to take a look around but we didn’t have that much time. Instead, I wanted to see the village which, judging by some pictures I had seen online, looked like it was very picturesque.

First, though, I had to stay awake. As we drove there, I was feeling rather drowsy. Not a good state to be but hardly surprising given how long I had been awake. When we got the village, I put the seat back and had a nap for a few minutes. This was a big help. Nancy was tired but not able to nap so she checked out a tea shop while I closed my eyes.

We then took a walk around the village. It is by a river and is very pretty. Lots of small houses and shops combined with a big green area all alongside the estate of the Earl which now houses the motor museum. What I hadn’t realized is how much wildlife wanders around. Yes there were ducks and swans. I didn’t know that cows, horses and donkeys were loose in the area. The donkeys seem to like the shops and apparently walk in if they feel like it. The horses and cows were grazing on the more grassy areas but if they needed to get somewhere, they would walk up the street and trucks coming the other way would just have to wait. Could I come up with something more English for our first day back?

Birds of Prey

Leave a Reply

This is the first of a series of posts that shall crop up in the coming weeks that are from a trip to the UK. Both my parents had significant birthdays this year and parties for both of them were to top and tail a trip back for us. It has been a long time since we were back and it was nice to see a lot of people while we were there.

We arrived in Heathrow early in the morning and picked up the rental car. We didn’t have anyone to see that day and our hotel wouldn’t be free until later in the day so we had a mission to keep ourselves busy and to stay awake. Consequently, we headed down to the New Forest in search of a bird of prey sanctuary.

We had found this place online so didn’t know much more about it than the website. The GPS got us there without any trouble. I had bought the Europe maps for our Garmin because, despite years of getting around the UK without having heard of GPS, now I guess I am dependent! The place was not huge but it had a very large collection of birds including lots of species of owl. We wandered around looking at the various birds before a small flying demonstration took place on their flying field. Apparently some of the bigger birds would be flying at the second show but we were content with what they had earlier on. We didn’t want to spend all day there.

At the end of the flying, they brought out a couple of baby barn owls. They were just in the stage of fledging but were still very fluffy and we were encouraged to stroke them to see just how soft they were. Very soft and very cute. It’s almost like I am back in my cute baby animal posts!

More Cormorants and Swallows

Leave a Reply

Having recently posted about both cormorants and swallows, it would appear a little repetitive to post about both together. Oh well, that isn’t going to stop me. While in Indiana for the powerboat racing, I was sitting on the harbor wall for a while. This was a popular place for the local bird life too. We had a cormorant swimming nearby and I couldn’t resist a shot of him (or her – I am not a specialist on these things).

Also, the local swallows seemed to be enjoying the air currents over the waves. When watching them, they seemed to spend a lot of time almost in one spot as they soared on the wind. Of course, trying to get a long lens on them was less straightforward and suddenly it was apparent just how much they were moving. Still, got a few shots off. It certainly provided some practice time between the races!

Cormorants – Not the Helicopter Version Though…

Leave a Reply

While I would not describe myself as a bird guy, I do spend a fair bit of time trying to get photos of them. I guess it is the “all things flying” part of my nature but they do make challenging subjects and also help with panning practice when I don’t have planes to shoot. A species I have a particular fondness for is the cormorant. I really don’t know why this should be. Growing up by the sea I certainly saw plenty of them and their enthusiasm for bombing along at surface level over the water does fascinate me.

Cormorants in the US seem to be a lot happier to fly higher up than I remember in the UK. While I was at Waukegan visiting the Warbird heritage Foundation, a pair of them blasted across the airfield. I quickly tried to grab some shots as they flew over. Nothing too special but something that pleased me all the same.