Tag: wildlife

I Like Them Raw and Wriggling…

I’ve been spending time at the ponds trying to get quality photos of the Ospreys fishing. No luck as of yet. They have shown up, but to capture a great photo it takes lots of clicks. When their babies hatch they will be fishing more often and many more opportunities will arise. While waiting somewhat patiently, there are lots of subjects to focus on. The Mergansers and Cormorants are catching lots of fish. When going through the photos of them gulping their fish this quote from the film, “The Two Towers,” keeps going through my head. Smeagol turns down Sam’s offer of rabbit stew stating that he likes his food raw and wriggling. Apparently that food choice applies to these birds as well.

I did get one photo of the Osprey with a fish but it’s not as sharp as I would like. The action happens incredibly fast and that’s why it takes a lot of exposures to get great shots. I’ll keep trying.

I saw this small female Merganser with this rather large fish. I have no idea how she can possibly eat this!

Wild Birds at Verdi Ponds

For years I have ventured out to the ponds at Verdi to take photos of birds, mostly Osprey fishing. These ponds are perfect for capturing the action as they are small, stocked with fish often and the Osprey are acclimated to people. I haven’t had any luck with fishing Osprey this year yet but have had fun photographing the other visitors to the ponds.

I’ve never had much luck with Great Blue Herons as they are pretty spooky, and I can’t get close. I had one yesterday be amazingly cooperative.

I was fortunate enough to see two bald eagles visiting the ponds as well. This is most likely a mated pair. They couldn’t decide who should have the best spot in the pine tree.

An Osprey did come by but not to fish. The Osprey was not happy the Eagle was roosting in the tree and harassed it for some time. The Osprey’s have a nest near here and I’m sure it is disconcerting to have these large predatory birds in the neighborhood.

Winter Bobcats

My trail camera sets picked up quite a few photos of Bobcats over the winter. The nice thing about the smaller cats is that they often show up during the daylight hours affording better pictures.

Checking the time stamp shows that these animals are not averse to wandering around in the middle of the day. I have sat out on some of their more traveled trails in camouflage as I would so like to capture them with my real camera. They are so beautiful! No luck so far. I’ll keep trying.

It’s always an extra bonus to get a photo of a predator with prey. The photo below shows a Bobcat with a cottontail rabbit in its mouth. This area has abundance of rabbits, both cottontails and jackrabbits. Bobcats also prey on birds, mice, voles and human’s small pets.

Lots of folks have told me that Bobcats will move out if Mountain Lions are in the area. I think the photos show that isn’t always true. The fact that the Lions seem to be primarily or possibly exclusively nocturnal may be why the smaller Bobcats are choosing to hunt during the day.

I’m most likely capturing the same Bobcat. I have no way of knowing or telling them apart. The one I’m seeing looks very healthy and well fed. Just like with the Mountain Lions I am looking forward to seeing and chronicling their summertime activities this year. Hopefully kittens will show up following mama Bobcat soon.

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Desert Bighorn’s are a conservation success story in Nevada. From a low population estimate in 1960 of 1500 to 2000 animals they are estimated to be at 12,000 as of the summer of 2023. This is the direct result of careful management by the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the hard work of sportsman and sportswoman in organizations such as the Wild Sheep Foundation and Nevada Bighorns Unlimited. In the last 4 years populations have suffered from severe drought and disease but are still at healthy levels.

I took these photos in Central Nevada last November. Desert Bighorns have become a photographic obsession for me. They are majestic animals, marvelously adapted to their harsh environment. They can go for long periods of time without water, and they thrive in the steep, rocky mountains of the high desert. They blend into their surroundings quite well with their light gray coats. Even their white rumps, which most often give them away, are easily mistaken for rocks until they move.

Lack of water sources and diseases, most often passed on to them from domestic sheep, are limiting factors in the growth of Bighorn Sheep populations. The installation of guzzlers across the Sheep’s current and former ranges have been life saving for current bands and allowed for the expansion and maintenance of Sheep. Guzzlers are water collecting and storage devices of various designs that allow large and small animals and birds to have access to water across Nevada and other arid states. These guzzlers store rainwater and snow melt in cisterns so that during the dryer part of the year there is water available for animals and birds. Some of the larger guzzlers can be filled by helicopter drops of water in dire circumstances. Most of these are installed by volunteers from several sportsman, sportswomen groups in cooperation with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. All desert life benefits.

Hunting has little impact on the population as only around 180 tags are issued each year. These are highly coveted tags as it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most hunters. I did receive a tag for the 2023 season and harvested a beautiful mature ram. I will tell that story another time.

The Lions of Winter

For the last few years, I have set up my trail cameras in late August and collected them at the end of March. This year I’ve decided to leave them out and track animal activity all year. Usually, Mountain Lions make their first appearance in November. I’m not sure if they are around much in the summer which is one of the reasons I’ll leave the cameras out. One year I had cameras placed from July until the end of March and stopped getting pictures of Lions in February. Based on incomplete data I’ve concluded they frequent this area mostly in winter and head to higher ground in the summer. We’ll see.

I have been seeing two lions this winter. Most likely this is an adult female with one of last year’s cubs. Lions need a large territory and with the exception of mating season won’t tolerate another adult lion in their area.

Mountain Lions main prey are deer. There are lots of deer in this area, but I have not found any kills. In the mountains immediately above, there is a healthy population of Desert Bighorn Sheep. Bighorn Sheep are also favorite prey for Lions. I wonder if that is what they are hunting primarily? I may hike up there later this spring and look for evidence.

I hope to see kittens this year following this large healthy lion sometime soon.

Cormorant

I am finally able to get back out and start taking photos again. I was hoping to get Ospreys fishing pictures today, but I settled for this rather handsome Cormorant with a fish. After squatting in fresh snow by the pond for a couple of hours I took my wet feet home.

It’s amazing how the Cormorant’s beak has evolved to have the perfect hook for gripping and manipulating fish.

Autumn Romance

Late Autumn is when the rut occurs for Mule Deer in the west. Mid November to mid-December seems to be the peak time based on my yearly observations. At this time the male deer are not very cautious and rampage around even in mid-day looking for does to breed. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the trail cams were placed to advantageously capture some of this behavior.

My Favorite Buck of 2022

I have lots of photos of Mule Deer bucks from July through December of 2022. I feel like I got to know them well through the photos taken of them on my Trail cameras. It was interesting to watch them the last 6 months. They changed their behavior through the observation time. In the summer they were solitary or hung out with one other buck. I saw some sparring through summer and early fall and then the very serious business of competing for does in November and December. My favorite buck of the year is a classic 4 point western count. He has a large, very symmetrical rack and is in my opinion the handsomest of all the bucks in that area this year. He posed nicely for several photos and I enjoyed going through all his photos to choose a few I’ll show here.

Changing Landscape

We are in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains but this past New Year’s we were not shielded from the exceptional amount of moisture that hit California. We had wet heavy snow for hours on New Year’s Eve that caused widespread power outages. I waited a week to venture out to grab my memory cards out of the trail cameras. It was still a pretty muddy slog to get to them. Sadly, there were several ancient cottonwood trees that did not survive the storm and many downed branches blocking trails. I noticed wash outs in areas that surprised me. When I got home to review my cards I was shocked to see how far the river had invaded. I almost lost one of my cameras judging by the photos.

I placed this camera at the intersection of several trails and have captured lots of deer, coyotes and feral horses on it. It is several hundred yards from the river. There are not any animals in this photo but it is time stamped a couple of hours before the wet snow and rain started. I need to reset the date recorder on the camera as it one day off on the date.

Exactly 24 hours later the river is flowing right in front of the camera. Note the swimming beaver passing by. That is what triggered the camera. No wonder it was muddy even a full week later. All of the water had receded, and I would have had no idea of the extent of the flooding without these photos.

Beautiful Bobcat

As winter progresses, and we have had storms and significant snowfall, predators seem to become more active. I am seeing more daylight appearances on my trail cameras of Bobcats. Some of the photos aren’t half bad for an automated system. The Mountain Lion has also shown up in some of the same areas but is sticking to the middle of the night. I am grateful for the Lions staying with that schedule.