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Cresting the Ridge
A Tule Elk is kind enough to give me a look over the top of a ridgeline right at sunset.
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Estero Coyote
A Coyote pops up out of the grass as the sun sets on Drakes Estero. This place gets me every time.
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Friendly Black-Tailed Deer
I don’t photograph Black-Tailed Deer very often, but this one was kind enough to put up with me while I maneuvered to get in composed into a notch between two hills. A nice welcome to a week in my favorite place.
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Owl On The Wing
I’ve been trying to get this shot for over a year now. Capturing a head-on shot of an owl in flight is hard! You need a good location with a hill allowing you to get at their level. You’ll probably get one, maybe two chances on any given night to get one of them leaving…
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California Quail Starfish
It’s quail season! I’m not sure if this is a display, or some kind of thermoregulation, but it was my first time seeing a quail go full starfish.
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Evening Call
A Common Yellowthroat pops up on a Coyote Brush to announce its presence. This was taken right at sunset (if you look carefully you can see the reflection of the sun setting over a hill in the bird’s eye). I went with 1/160s and 1600 ISO. You really don’t need a fast shutter speed even…
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Taking Flight
It takes a lot of patience to get a photo of a Great Horned Owl taking flight. When you’re sitting on a hillside on a warm spring day watching the sun set, the minutes tick by pretty quickly.
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Owl on Rock
I found this Great Horned Owl hanging out on its favorite rock again. It had flown down from its tree well before sunset this time, giving me an opportunity to capture it with the fading glow of the day reflecting off the hills in the background.
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Spring Warbler
On the West Coast, we’re blessed with a year-round warbler presence. Easterners have a bigger variety of warblers, but we have wintering warblers and summering warblers. With the arrival of spring, the Townsend’s Warblers have been replaced with Wilson’s Warblers, who are beginning to nest in and around the willows.
