Tag: point reyes national seashore

Tule Elk

Bull Tule Elk with Baling Twine Caught in Antlers

Photo of a bull tule elk with baling twine caught in his antlers.
Tule Elk Bull, Limantour Herd; Point Reyes National Seashore

This 7-point bull is the largest I’ve seen so far this fall in that portion of the Limantour herd that uses the D Ranch near Drake’s Beach.   About an hour after this photo was taken I saw him again and he was limping.  I think he had been a in a fight.  What I want to point out in this photo, however, is that he has some baling twine caught in his antlers.  Here is a closer view of the baling twine.

Close-up photo of a bull tule elk with baling twine caught in his antlers.
Cropped photo showing baling twine caught in antlers; Point Reyes National Seashore

Baling twine and baling wire, which are used to bale hay, cause many unnecessary injuries and deaths each year to wildlife.  Animals manage to get their legs, talons and other body parts tangled in it.  To read an article about its dangers click here.  The next time this bull scrapes ground cover some of it will get caught in the twine and some of it may cover the animals face, including its eyes.  Depending on its breaking strength, it may also tie the bull to a fence or a piece of vegetation that the bull can’t break or it may hold two bulls together when they try to break from a fight.  Tensile strength is in the hundreds of pounds.  Other species, such as ospreys, are attracted to it for nest-building material.  There are reported cases of ospreys being killed when flying with a long piece of it dangling from their talons.  The trailing piece gets caught in a tree limb as a bird flies over it and the bird dies either immediately or over a long time if it can’t free itself of the twine.  If it makes it into the nest it can cause death there as well.  To see what can happen at a nest site click here.  It reminds me of monofilament fishing line which thoughtless fishermen discard.  Monofilament is even used for some baling products.  If you see discarded baling twine please collect it and dispose of it properly.  Included in that is cutting it into small pieces so it doesn’t become dangerous again on the surface of a landfill.

Baling twine is now being manufactured that decomposes over time.  While this is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t break down for over a year.

Coyote

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a coyote staring at the camera.
Coyote, Pt. Reyes National Seashore

I photographed this coyote on my last trip to Point Reyes.  The photo was taken just before noon.  Seeing a coyote midday is fairly unusual, especially for the summer months.  They are crepuscular (active during dawn and dusk hours) and nocturnal.  That doesn’t mean you will never see them during daylight hours.  It just means that they are less active then.  I believe there is a seasonal aspect to it as well.  I see far more coyotes during the daytime in winter months than I do during summer months.

I spotted this individual while driving back from the Pierce Point area.  I stopped slightly past the coyote and had to hand-hold for this photo.   Not my first choice with a big lens.

Owl

Great Horned Owl, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a great horned owl sitting in a barn window.
Great Horned Owl in Barn Window

I went out to Point Reyes a couple of days ago.  The elk rut has started, especially with the Limantour herd.  The Tomales herd seems to lag behind the Limantour herd in antler shedding, antler re-growth, mating and calving.

On my way to check on a part of the Limantour herd I saw this adult great horned owl.  I was pleased to find it roosting where it was.  They’re hard enough to find and most of the ones I find are in trees with distracting backgrounds.

Black Bear

Cinnamon Black Bear, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of cinnamon black bear.
A Hungry Bear

I started this photo blog a little over a year ago in Yellowstone.  I thought then that it would be a good time to start the blog because I would have, hopefully, a lot of images to get the blog going.  As it turned out I got more images than I could deal with.  By the time I got all the images downloaded each night it was 11:00 pm and I wanted to be back in the park by sunrise.  No problem I thought.  I’ll post the Yellowstone images on the blog when I get home.  I was going to do that to some degree anyway.

As it turned out, when I got home I started going to nearby Point Reyes National Seashore and, to my surprise, there were enough wildlife photo opportunities at Point Reyes that I never did post much of last spring in Yellowstone.   I cancelled my trip this spring which would have been my third spring trip in a row.  I started posting images of spring in Yellowstone a week ago without much thought about it.  I guess I missed being there.  I think I’ll continue for a while.

This cinnamon black bear was a regular outside the northeast entrance last spring.  I don’t know where the boundary is between Park Service land and Forest Service land. To me, he’s a Yellowstone bear.

Bobcat

A Bobcat Visits the Pantry; Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a bobcat.
Gopher Trap

I haven’t gotten any good photos of bobcats lately.  They’ve given up their crepuscular ways and they’ve gone back to being nocturnal.  This photo was taken in February.  This particular guy was my favorite this past winter.  He has a very pronounced chin.  I had a house cat with a chin like his.  It was diagnosed as feline acne, treated and it cleared up.  I wonder if bobcats get feline acne.

On another note, I’m working on a review of window mounts.  I hope to have that done in the next day or so.  Included in that review will be the new Puffin Pad.

Deer

Blacktail Buck

A Columbia Blacktail Buck feeds in a field of tall grass.
Columbia Blacktail Deer, Point Reyes National Seashore

This buck was  grazing in a rancher’s field.  H e must have liked what he was eating given how stuffed his cheeks are.