A Barn Owl tucked in for the day. Because Barn Owls are hunted by larger birds of prey such as Great Horned Owls and Red-Tailed Hawks, they tuck themselves deep into their roosting spots during the day. Often they’re only visible from just a single angle where there’s a window in the branches they use to enter and exit the roost.
A Coyote illuminated by the glow of early morning light. In areas with lots of human activity, Coyotes tend to restrict their activities to early morning and late evening hours. Even at these hours, they still have to run a gauntlet of unfriendly dogs and inattentive drivers to make their way between parts of their territory. The potential for conflict gets much worse in the middle of the day.
It’s often all about the bulls when it comes to elk, but this Tule Elk cow was looking mighty noble as it paused mid-graze in front of some rolling hills.
Most Coyotes have black-tipped tails. I’ve been photographing a lot of Coyotes lately in Point Reyes that have a white tip at the very end of its tail, surrounded by a ring of black. These are less common, but from what I can tell far from unheard of in most Coyote populations.
This is my favorite one I’ve found so far. He’s somewhat skittish, so I don’t have a spectacular shot of him. But, he’s got a tail tip that’s nearly completely white, with just a hint of black. A very handsome Coyote.
Burrowing owls live life on hard mode. Unlike other owls who can tuck themselves deep in the branches of a high tree to avoid detection by predators, burrowing owls are vulnerable to air and ground attacks. As a result, they constantly have their head on a swivel, ready to dive into a burrow at the first sign of a threat. Even a plane flying overhead is worthy of a vigilant look.
Yup, it’s a bobcat. While it looks like the cat is staring directly at me, I have been triaged with feline dispassion as neither predator nor prey and therefore not worthy of notice. There’s a gopher hole directly between us, and the bobcat is stealthily taking its last step before hunkering down and waiting for the critical moment.
