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Spotted Towhee
A Spotted Towhee perches on a Coyote Brush at Abbotts Lagoon. It’s always such a pleasure to see one of these skulkers out in the open.
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Rainy Hawk Anniversary
Happy one year anniversary of finding an epically soaked Red-Tailed Hawk to all who celebrate. A small but very select group, no doubt.
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Coyote Eyelashes
Have you ever seen a Coyote’s eyelashes before? It was very windy and this fellow was walking straight into the wind as it headed for shelter to ride out an incoming storm. Squinting into the wind, the Coyote revealed its delicate white eyelashes for my camera.
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Short-Tailed Coyote
I always wonder what the story is when I see an animal that looks different from the rest. This Coyote is obviously missing the long and luxurious tail its species usually sports. Sometimes a shorter tail is a sign of mange, but you can usually see the core of the tail hanging down below the…
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Elephant Seal Water Polo
A couple of subadults engage in a vigorous game of Elephant Seal water polo.
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Wrentit
I usually prefer my birds photos to be less branchy, but this is the best shot I’ve yet to manage of a Wrentit, so you get to deal with a branchy photo. Wrentits are kind of fascinating if you’re into taxonomy. Their name doesn’t reflect any relationship to wrens or tits. It’s pretty much ornithologists…
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American Kestrel in the Rain
Continuing my obsession with raptors in the rain, this time with North America’s smallest raptor, the American Kestrel. She was hunting from an exposed perch even as the wind picked up and rain started driving. I’ve seen Kestrels out hunting in heavy rain before, but on this occasion she abandoned her hunting perch before getting…
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American Kestrel With Prey
An American Kestrel flies to her perch clutching a Jerusalem Cricket. I’ve read on Wikipedia the Jerusalem Crickets are nocturnal, but I regularly see Kestrels pluck one after the other off the ground. They hover for a few minutes, swoop down, bring one back to a perch, devour it, and repeat over and over. If…
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Three Amigos
Most of the Coyotes I see in Point Reyes are solitary, or in pairs during mating season. It stands to reason since they almost exclusively prey on small rodents that there wouldn’t be much if any advantage to hunting in packs. If anything, a pack-mate is just a potential tipoff for a skittish gopher or…
