Santa Cruz Island Fox

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Santa Cruz Island Fox

Photo: Island Fox, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands national park, California.  April 2012

The Island Fox is native to 6 of the 8 California Channel Islands, with each island containing it’s own subspecies of the island fox.

By the year 2000, the fox population on Santa Cruz island had declined to around 135 adults.  The other islands suffered and even greater decline in fox population.  The reason is somewhat complex but a basic shorthand version is:  Historically, Bald Eagles were present on the islands.  A DDT spill in the 1950’s caused the Bald Eagle population to decline, eventually disappearing all together.  In the absence of Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles took up residence on the islands.  Bald Eagles eat fish, Golden Eagles eat small mammals and rodents.  Conservation efforts in the 1990’s removed introduced species from the islands, mainly pigs, deer, and elk.  Up to this point, pigs had been a main food source of the Golden Eagles.  With the pigs gone, the eagles took up predation on the Islands Foxes and the population declined.

In 2004, four of the Island Fox subspecies were classified and protected as an endangered species and about this time a breeding program was initiated.  The fox population on Santa Cruz Island is now around 700.

Over the course of the trip I saw five foxes in total.  Three on San Miguel island and two on Santa Cruz island.  I only wish I had had a bigger lens with me to get some better photos.

 

Santa Cruz Island Fox

Photo: Island Fox, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands national park, California.  April 2012

Wild Welsh Mountain Ponies

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Wild Welsh mountain pony, Hay Bluff, Wales

Wild Welsh mountain ponies in and around Hay Bluff in the Black Mountains area of Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.

I’ve posted previously about the wild ponies that run around the mountains here in south Wales.  There’s several herds that hang out on Hay Bluff, just outside of town here.  They make for more interesting subjects than near infinite amount of sheep cruising around.

White Welsh mountain pony on hillside, Hay Bluff, Wales

Wild Welsh mountain pony feeds on grassy hillside, Hay Bluff, Wales

Two wild Welsh mountain pony foals, Hay Bluff, Wales

Portrait of wild Welsh mountain pony foal, Hay Bluff, Wales

Welsh Safari

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Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountain, Wales

Welsh mountain ponies.  They seemed to think either I and or the car was edible.  Out in the Black mountain area on a mostly fine summer day.

Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountain, Wales

Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountain, Wales

Mojave Fringe-Toed Lizard

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Mojave Fringe-Toed Lizard, Kelso Dunes, Mojave national preserve, California

Mojave Fringe-Toed lizard on Kelso sand dunes in Mojave national preserve, California.

Shooting sunrises from 6:30-7:30am and sunsets from 6:30-7:30pm leaves a lot of hours of boredom in between.  I don’t consider myself to be any sort of nature/wildlife photographer unless an easy opportunity presents itself; or in this case, I have nothing better to do.  I had gone on a quick scouting trip out to the dunes and noticed all these little lizards cruising around, often allowing me to get fairly close.  Cool, I think, I’ll go back and get my camera; better than reading in the back of my truck as the desert sun beats down and turns it into an oven.

By the time I return with a camera the lizards must have fully warmed up and switched into warp-speed mode, as I couldn’t get within 5 feet without them scurrying off into the distance.  After about an hour I managed to find this guy who I could quietly sneak up upon.   He was kind enough to let me grab a few shots before vanishing into the distance.  I gave up after that.

Welsh Mountain Ponies – Black Mountains, Wales

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Hay-on-Wye is on the northeast border of the Brecon Beacons national park here in Wales.  Though slightly confusingly, the Brecon Beacon mountains are further west, with the Black mountains being the range here in the east.   Welsh mountain ponies roam the wild grassy hillsides and mountains and can be quite friendly as they try to discover whether your clothing or camera is edible.  My camera lens was completely fogged by horse breath on numerous occasions as I was trying to photograph them.

Wild Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Wild Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Wild Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Wild Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Wild Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Wild Welsh mountain pony, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

The North Coast

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After a night in the Mt. Shasta Area I headed west, through the winding mountain roads of the Trinity Alps and out towards the coast north of Eureka, almost to the Oregon border.  This area is the home to Redwood national park and numerous smaller state parks.  My favorite being Prairie Creek Redwoods state park, a mixture of thick redwood forests and beautiful beaches.  This area is so from my home in southern California (it is a shorter drive from Seattle, Washington than from Santa Barbara) that I only first came through here a couple years ago in the summer and then again in the autumn of 2007.

Gold Bluffs beach - Prairie Creek Redwoods state park, California

Prairie Creek Redwoods state park, California - tents among sanddunes at Gold Bluffs Beach Campground

There is this super cool campground at Gold Bluffs beach, set amongst coastal dunes with the endless crashing waves of the Northern Pacific ocean just a couple hundred feet away.

Roosevelt Elk graze in camproung at Gold Bluffs Beach, Prairie creek redwoods state park, California

Roosevelt Elk lazily wander and graze throughout the tents and campsites.  I would have liked to get a photo of them walking along the beach, but I never saw them there this time.  More reason to go back again.

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Northern Elephant Seals at San Simeon

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This past weekend I rented the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 lens and drove a couple hours up the coast to the San Simeon area along highway 1 to photograph the Northern Elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), which are now on the beaches in good numbers while moulting.  The weather was quite dissapointing with rain on Friday and thick fog (typical for the area, but I’m often lucky and have clear skies) on Saturday and Sunday.  The fog lifted from time to time, but for the most part, it was so thick that even being no more than 5-10 meters from the seals a visible haze would be present between the animals and myself.  And not much chance of any landscape type shots of the seal covered beaches.  Though as long as I was pretty close, the fog provided a nice soft light, like a giant soft box in the sky (and I got pretty sunburnt as well).   I’ll also say that I’m glad that wildlife photography doesn’t interest me all that much, as I would hate to have to carry a lens like that on a regular basis.  Totally defeats my ideas of traveling “fast and light.”  Though the lens is beautifully sharp and a pleasure to work with, just not carry.

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography

As the seals are mostly quite still while sleeping I tried throwing on a 6 stop neutral density filter to get some blur in the water and see how things looked.  A few of the seals moved a bit, but for the most part they remained still for the 8 second exposure.  Just wish it hadn’t been so foggy.  The seals will be around for another month of so, so maybe I’ll go back again, with a better weather forecast.

Northern elephant seals - Mirounga angustirostris - on beach at Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon, California. Cody Duncan photography