kiwifoto.com http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog "Adventures of a wandering widlife photographer" Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:59:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Bottlenose Dolphins in Santa Monica Bay http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/03/07/bottlenose-dolphins-in-santa-monica-bay/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/03/07/bottlenose-dolphins-in-santa-monica-bay/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:05:24 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=953 I was treated to a display of 15-20 Bottlenose Dolphins that were feeding very close to the shore off Dockweiler Beach in Playa del Rey this past weekend. I don't often see Dolphins that close to shore and certainly not that many at one time. At times they were huddled up in groups of 5 just waiting for a nice set and riding it toward the shore!

Bottlenose Dolphin

According to an article published by Maddalena Bearzi and Charles A. Saylan of the Ocean Conservation Soceity, 81.4% of Dolphin sightings during their study of Santa Monica Bay were within 0.5km of the shoreline.

Bottlenose Dolphin

Cetacean occurrence, distribution and behavior were investigated in Santa Monica Bay and nearby areas, California (1997–2007). A total of 425 boat-based surveys documented three species inhabiting the study area year-round - the common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, the long-beaked common dolphin, Delphinus capensis, and the short-beaked common dolphin, D. delphis, and ten species occurring occasionally. Coastal bottlenose dolphins were mostly found traveling, diving and feeding in waters within 0.5km of shore in 81.4% of the sightings (n  =  221), but were also observed occasionally in offshore waters. All other species were seen > 0.5 km of shore, often feeding near escarpments and submarine canyons. Endangered species, such as blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), were also recorded in the study area. This paper provides new information as well as an update on data of the composition for the local cetacean community, and offers information that should be considered in the decision-making process associated with the newly established MPAs, and their use. The presence of a diverse cetacean fauna moving in and out the boundaries of these MPAs, also suggests the need for long-term and regular cetacean monitoring in the area.

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

]]> http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/03/07/bottlenose-dolphins-in-santa-monica-bay/feed/ 0 My Nemesis Thrasher: Le Conte’s Thrasher http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/28/my-nemesis-thrasher-le-contes-thrasher/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/28/my-nemesis-thrasher-le-contes-thrasher/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:01:35 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=951 I've tried for several years now to photograph Le Conte's Thrashers in the Mojave Desert. I had been in contact with Terri Middlemiss for the past three years trying to arrange a time to visit her property and photograph the Thrashers. But I kept missing the late winter window before they went out of sight nest building and raising their first brood of young. I decided that I would do it this year for sure and e-mailed Terri in January. To my dismay, she told me that she no longer had any Thrashers on her property. A Cooper's Hawk picked off most of their brood last year and the parents decided to pack their bags and move somewhere else. She did offer me some hope since her neighbor, Louise of Knecht Ranch, had multiple pairs of Le Conte's Thrashers on her property. So we setup a date and time to visit this past weekend.

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by the song of a male Le Conte's Thrasher singing in the distance. You can hear the song here. Louise lured them into her yard by throwing meal worms onto the ground. It was tricky photographing them since they're quite adept to scurrying around on the ground, rarely taking flight. I managed to get a few shots though. Not my best photos but Louise invited me back in June when they will be multiple broods of young also running around and learning to hunt on their own.

Le Conte's Thrasher
Le Conte's Thrasher

While waiting patiently to photograph the Thrashers, several Loggerhead Shrikes took the opportunity to feast on the meal worms that were wriggling around in the soil.

Loggerhead Shrike
Loggerhead Shrike

And what's a visit to Kern County without stopping at the Kern County Audubon Preserve. There wasn't much in the way of birds since it was pretty windy last weekend. There was a group of Mule Deer that were feeding in the late afternoon light.

Mule Deer
Mule Deer

And a little treat from Butterbredt Springs:

Great Horned Owl
Great Horned Owl

Thanks again to Louise and Knecht Ranch! She has a collection of videos that she wanted me to share as well. She is working on uploading video footage she took of Le Conte's Thrashers warning each other of a nearby Gopher Snake.

  • Knecht Ranch Wildlife Part 1: Roadrunner vs. Gopher Snake
  • Knecht Ranch Wildlife Part 2: Long-eared Owls
  • Knecht Ranch Wildlife Part 3: MooTweet, the Cowbird

    .
    ..
    ...

    ]]> http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/28/my-nemesis-thrasher-le-contes-thrasher/feed/ 0 Malibu Lagoon – Lesser Black-backed Gull? http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/21/malibu-lagoon-lesser-black-backed-gull/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/21/malibu-lagoon-lesser-black-backed-gull/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:15:47 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=948 I headed over to Malibu Lagoon State Beach after Todd McGrath reported a 1st cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull on Sunday. I never found the bird, nor did Todd and others that looked on Monday, but I did get some nice crackers of Mew, Glaucous-winged, Bonaparte's Gull and other goodies.

    There were well over 300 gulls on the beach, the most numerous being California and Western, Ring-billed, Glaucous-winged, Bonaparte's, Mew, Thayer's in order of magnitude. I counted 25 Snowy Plovers along the Lagoon and many of the other usual suspects.

    Snowy Plover
    Snowy Plover

    Mew Gull
    Mew Gull

    Bonaparte's Gull
    Bonaparte's Gull

    Glaucous-winged Gull
    Glaucous-winged Gull

    Western Gull
    Western Gull exhibiting very "yellow" legs

    American Crow
    American Crow

    Snowy Egret
    Snowy Egret

    Glaucous-winged Western Gull
    Glaucous-winged Gull (left), Western Gull (right)

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/21/malibu-lagoon-lesser-black-backed-gull/feed/ 0     Common Redpoll in The Land of Enchantment http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/13/common-redpoll-in-the-land-of-enchantment/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/13/common-redpoll-in-the-land-of-enchantment/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:56:39 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=947 Spent Valentine's Weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico so we took advantage of the fact a Common Redpoll had been visiting a local resident's feeders since December 22nd.

    Thanks to the generousity of Bo Olcott and his wife, we were able to visit their property and see and photograph the Redpoll with relative ease. It was a snowy and blustery 15F when we arrived but the Redpoll was perched in a tree right above the feeders.

    Common Redpoll
    Common Redpoll

    Not too far the down the road, we encountered one of the largest flocks I've ever seen of Mountain Bluebirds, Eastern Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaires and Cedar Waxwings! It was quite a sight and I was surprisingly able to get some of my best Mountain Bluebird photos yet. Still working on better Eastern Bluebird shots - for some reason I can never get close to them!

    Mountain Bluebird
    Mountain Bluebird

    Some of the most beautiful country in New Mexico. It's my favorite state in the Lower 48, and you can see why:

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/13/common-redpoll-in-the-land-of-enchantment/feed/ 0     Rescued a Brandt’s Cormorant! http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/09/rescued-a-brandts-cormorant/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/09/rescued-a-brandts-cormorant/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:40:26 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=944 Did my good deed for the week! I encountered a Brandt's Cormorant all tangled up in fishing line whilst photographing at Ballona Creek this past weekend. I text'd Peter Wallerstein with LA Marine Animal Rescue and he responded immediately at the scene 15 minutes later! I took a short little video of Peter netting the Cormorant:

    Click here to view the video on YouTube.

    Peter capturing the Brandt's Cormorant


    The happy Brandt's Cormorant after Peter freed it from the fishing line wrapped all around its body and wings:

    Brandt's Cormorant
    Brandt's Cormorant

    I was rewarded later in the afternoon by getting up close and personal with a beautiful Brant. Probably one of the cleanest Brants I've encountered in Southern California.

    Brant
    Brant

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/09/rescued-a-brandts-cormorant/feed/ 0     Arctic Loon and Gyrfalcon in California? http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/arctic-loon-and-gyrfalcon-in-california/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/arctic-loon-and-gyrfalcon-in-california/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:07:38 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=941 Spent the past couple weekends chasing some decent rarities in California. An Arctic Loon near San Simeon State Beach, which is the 2nd Arctic Loon I've seen in California - but I was able to get some absolutely stunning photos of him!

    Arctic Loon
    Arctic Loon

    Less than a week later, a Gyrfalcon showed up in Riverside County. Marking one of the farthest south records ever for the species. The last Gyrfalcon I saw was in Alaska and the last one in the Lower 48 was in Idaho!

    Gyrfalcon
    Gyrfalcon

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/arctic-loon-and-gyrfalcon-in-california/feed/ 1     Crested Caracara in Ballona Wetlands http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/crested-caracara-in-ballona-wetlands/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/crested-caracara-in-ballona-wetlands/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:51:45 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=937 A bit behind on blog updates but a Crested Caracara made a brief appearance in the Ballona Wetlands on January 13th. It only stuck around for a day...actually more like half a day. I was able to get some photos of it before a Red-tailed dive bombed it. It circled around the area few times going higher and higher, riding the afternoon thermal updrafts only to never be seen again!


    Crested Caracara
    Crested Caracara

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/crested-caracara-in-ballona-wetlands/feed/ 0     United Kingdom http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/united-kingdom/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/united-kingdom/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:50:21 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=939 We just returned from an epic trip through the United Kingdom. We flew into London a couple days before Christmas staying there for 4 nights. Then drove over to Stonehenge, up through Wales and back through the Cotswold's, central England up to Manchester.



    Stonehenge
    Stonehenge

    Then cut Northeast to drive along the coast in the North Umberlands into Southeast Scotland. Along the way we stopped to check off a Desert Wheatear that had spent the fall and winter hanging around the beaches just south of the Scotland border.

    Desert Wheatear
    Desert Wheatear

    We arrived in Edinburgh just in time for their Hagmanay Festival - which is a huge celebration to roll in the New Year. It was pretty exciting marching with torches through the narrow alleys of Old Town Edinburgh and up to Edinburgh Castle.



    Edinburgh Castle
    Edinburgh Castle

    After the festivities, we drove up through the Scottish Highlands. It was a bit blustery with wind and snow but an absolutely beautiful drive! The rolling foothills slowly progressed into mountains with jagged canyons in between which formed many of Scotland's Lochs.



    Loch Tay
    Loch Tay



    Loch Lomond
    Loch Lomond

    After 5 days in Scotland we flew over to Ireland for another 5 days where we met some of the friendliest people of the trip. We took a few day trips from Dublin to Southeast Ireland and enjoyed the magnificent rolling green hills that Ireland is famous for. Some highlights from Ireland including a wintering Bluethroat and Mediterranean Gulls.

    Mediterranean Gull
    Mediterranean Gull

    Bluethroat
    Bluethroat

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2012/02/03/united-kingdom/feed/ 0     Snowy Owls http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2011/12/19/snowy-owls/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2011/12/19/snowy-owls/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:31:04 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=936 There has been an irruption of Snowy Owls this winter. There have already been over 200 different sightings of Snowy Owls across the northern Lower 48 states. Snowy Owls rarely venture south of the Canadian border but every 6-7 years they come farther south. Some speculate it is due to food shortages in it's normal Arctic range.

    Snowy Owl Sightings
    Snowy Owl - Recent Observations

    While visiting friends in Portland recently, a Snowy Owl was discovered in a field in a small Mennonite retirement community. I rushed down there that afternoon to photograph the extremely cooperative bird. It was quite amusing watching the sheep in the field walk up to the Owl trying to figure out what the heck he was doing there. There were a couple of stand-off situations with the curious sheep but the Snowy Owl did not look amused at all.

    Snowy Owl
    Snowy Owl

    Snowy Owl
    Snowy Owl

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2011/12/19/snowy-owls/feed/ 1     A Booby in Orange County! http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2011/12/17/a-booby-in-orange-county/ http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2011/12/17/a-booby-in-orange-county/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 02:02:48 +0000 ctaylor http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/?p=933 Word spread quickly that a MASKED BOOBY was found on the Dana Point breakwater in Orange County. In true rarity chasing fashion, I loaded my gear in the car and we were on our way. Normally it would be a 1 hour drive but an accident on the 405 made it more like a 2 hour drive. Rain and a waning sun in the horizon didn't keep my hopes high for a decent photo. That combined with the fact the bird was being observed on a jetty 200 yards from shore...

    Upon arriving, we bumped into Steve and Becky Turley and Jim Pike who were looking for the bird in their scopes. Being a photographer, I never carry a scope. If I can't get decent photos with a 500mm lens then I'd rather not have any at all! I researched a few boat rental places before I left so I headed over to Embarcadero Marina to see if I could rent a small skiff at the rate of $50/hr. I figured that was well worth the investment to get close enough to the bird. Much to my chagrin, the boat rentals were closed due to a red flag advisory for small craft. I begged them but their insurance policy wouldn't allow it.

    So...being in a boat marina, I figured I'd ask the locals if they'd take me out to the bird for $50. I was in luck. I found Georgie and John Moore from Fallbrook that had a small dingy attached to their yacht. They were more than happy to take us close to the bird and refused any payment! It's truly rewarding when you encounter such gracious people like that in this world.

    Oh, and yes. I did get some amazing photos of the Booby.

    Masked Booby
    Masked Booby

    There are only 15 or so previous records of Masked Boobies in California. This sub-adult bird was a bit far from his normal breeding range in the central and western Pacific, around Australia, as well as off Mexico and on Clipperton Island.

    ]]>     http://www.kiwifoto.com/blog/2011/12/17/a-booby-in-orange-county/feed/ 0