This photo shows just how big polar bears can really be. It was taken in the town of Churchill, about a 30 minute flight south of the lodge that I stayed at (there were no motorized vehicles anywhere near the lodge). We had a few hours to kill before catching our flight back to the States, so me and a couple of the guys rented a car and decided to go out and explore. We found a place where they breed a rare species of dog. The bears would come around to eat the dogs’ food (bears will eat anything while waiting for the Hudson Bay to freeze so that they can go out and feast upon their true favorite, ringed seals).

Click the sound file below to hear coyotes howling. This one was taken on last month’s trip to Yellowstone.

Coyote Howl

January is the month that elephant seal pups are being born up and down the California coast. This pup is probably only about a week old. The mom seems quite pleased with the new addition to her family.

This is an atmospheric phenomenon known as sundogs. It’s also known as a phantom sun or mock sun. The technical name is a parhelion, which means “beside the sun.”  During very cold weather (like this zero degree day in Yellowstone) sundogs are formed by ice crystals called diamond dust which are drifting randomly in the air. The ice crystals act as prisms forming two rainbow colored bright spots of light (the sundogs) which anchor a halo around the sun.

This is kind of an unusual one for me but I thought it was interesting. Upper Newport Bay Wildlife Preserve and Ecological Reserve is in the middle of Orange County, southern California. It is a very large area of wilderness in the middle of one of the country’s most extreme examples of suburban sprawl. The area is essentially an estuary (where salt and fresh water mix) that cuts a path through the landscape forming a bit of a canyon. Bike trails, running paths and playing fields line the upper rim of this canyon, but none seem to lead down into it. In fact, it was quite deserted down there when I left the trails above and headed toward the water in search of wildlife. I saw lots of wading birds like egrets and ducks in the estuary, and then came across all these discarded balls. I assume they all got washed down into the canyon from up above, where all the neighborhood kids play, and came to rest in this spot.

This is a Brewer’s blackbird. I always try to get a nice background when photographing birds. This time it just happened to be a female elephant seal.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I drove up the California coast this past weekend as far north as San Simeon. This is the time of year that the elephant seals are on the beaches in full force. The females are giving birth to the babies they’ve been carrying since last year, the males are fighting for the right to mate again this year, and the juveniles are sort of lost among all the activity. The mother’s are constantly chasing them away from their newborns and the males seem to ignore their presence altogether. Left to his/her own devices, this one was hanging alone up in the dunes and allowed me a close approach with my wide angle lens.

Finally. After years of trying, I got good looks at a bobcat today. This was taken early this morning (yesterday morning by now) in Irvine, California. I had to be in Irvine on Monday for work and decided to fly out early to try and see what I could find over the weekend. I had read about the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, only about 3 miles from the hotel I was staying in. Despite being in the middle of LA’s suburban sprawl to the south, the reserve supposedly harbored the occasional bobcat. Of course, you still needed to be very lucky to see one. I figured I’d take my chances. I went on Saturday morning and barely even saw any birds. I tried a few other wildlife hotspots I had read about in the area and didn’t have any luck at those either. No sense wasting my time, so I decided to drive well up the coast to a place where I knew I’d find plenty of subjects to photograph — the elephant seals north of San Simeon. Upon returning to Irvine on Monday, I decided to check back in on San Joaquin. Still nothing. I’d have to settle for the seals. This morning I got up, checked out of the hotel and started driving to LAX. I was early though, and I had about 45 minutes to spare. One more try. But after the 45 minutes were up I hadn’t snapped a single frame so I turned to head back to the car. And there it was. Then I lost it before getting any shots. Then I saw it again briefly and got a horrible snapshot (not much better than the previous few times I had seen bobcats). This game of cat and mouse — with me as the cat — went on for a while. I would see it, it would see me, it would disappear into the thick vegetation along a ravine before I could get a good look. I eventually decided to start mimicking the bobcat and when it saw me, I headed into the thicket. Maybe it was a coincidence, but this seemed to work and eventually the bobcat felt comfortable enough to go about its business of hunting rabbits and ducks while I watched. I think the other thing that made it comfortable was that I would lay on the ground (something you’re never supposed to do with mountain lions as it’s an indication that you are prey, but with a bobcat no problem). It was when I was down on the ground that it started to stroll toward me, passing only about 10 feet away. As most you you know, I love that low angle of view and I was able to snap off quite a few shots before it passed and eventually leapt about ten feet across a small river and disappeared. I was happy. More posts to come.

Here’s another pine marten from Silver Gate, Montana, just outside the northeast entrance to Yellowstone. There were two of these guys running around. This one grabbed a chunk of icy snow in his mouth and ran off.

Here’s another one from last weekend in Indiana. I was told that because it was such a dry year, there aren’t as many fish in the ponds and the otters have had to keep moving from one body of water to another to find enough to eat. That being said, they certainly seemed to be finding a lot while I was watching.