Calendars are Here!

For the past several years I’ve been making calendars for friends and family.  This year I’m expanding production and offering four different calendars for sale at $15 each.  They make great holiday gifts and are truly unique.  As a matter of fact, I believe that I might have the first and only Bobcat calendar!  If you are interested, please contact me via email:  wildphotography.barry @ gmail.com

Sample photos can be seen below the fold.

Bobcat Jumping Sequence

The young female bobcat put on quite a show on Saturday at Lake Los Carneros in Goleta.  She caught and killed a small rodent just before we first spotted her.  This cat must be a firm believer that “practice makes perfect” because she spent the next ten to fifteen minutes batting around and pouncing on her prize.  This may seem like play to us but it is important that she practice and improve her hunting skills and reflexes.

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“Bobcat Leap”  -  Click on the above image to view it larger.

Bobcats from the first week of November

We had another great week out here.  Lots of people saw the bobcats and I was able to get a lot of great photos.  Based on what we are seeing, we think that the young bobcats are about to get pushed out of their mother’s territory.  The literature indicates that this could happen any time within the next month or so.  I know that a lot of people have enjoyed seeing them!

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“Ready to Pounce”  -  Bobcat at Lake Los Carneros, Goleta, CA

Sunrise – November 5, 2009

Our unprecedented bobcat viewing streak has come to an end.  Prior to Thursday we had seen them the past six days in a row.  However, it may not be a bad thing that they aren’t so readily findable.  There has been a sudden increase in the number of people looking for them and I wonder how that is impacting their hunting.  Bobcats are crepuscular, meaning that they are active primarily at dawn and dusk.  It can’t be good for them if they spend half their hunting time watching photographers or being pursued by them.  The young have the added stress of having to avoid the adult male.  Being forced to move around the lake wastes valuable hunting time and takes energy.  I hope us photographers aren’t having too much of a negative impact on them, because I would feel terrible if one starved to death because of us.

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“Sunrise over Lake Los Carneros”  -  Goleta, CA

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Monday’s Bobcat Encounter

The two bobcat kids were back last night and were in a very playful mood.  They were a ton of fun to watch.  I’m thrilled that I managed to capture some of their antics on video!  I highly recommend watching it in HD.  It’s amazing how fast they are.  We got to watch one sprinting after a rabbit and they were both just brown blurs.

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Sunday’s Bobcat Encounter

The local bobcat family put on quite a show Sunday evening.  There many people there getting to see them for the first time and a healthy contingent of photographers and birders.  Both of the young were busy hunting while their mother was lounging in the sun, although she disappeared after they invaded her personal space one too many times.  The highlight was watching the young male playing with a rodent he caught.  I was caught completely off guard when he started throwing his prize in the air and jumping after it.  I did manage to get one shot that I’m quite happy with.

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“Mouse Toss”  -  Lake Los Carneros, Goleta, CA

Four Bobcats in One Day!

I’ve been wondering when or if we would be lucky enough to see all four bobcats in one day.  I figured this would require spending all day at the park or making numerous trips per day.  I never would have expected that we would see all of them within half an hour.  On Tuesday we stumbled upon the mother and her young right at the beginning of our walk.  They were incredibly cooperative and spent a lot of time moving around us.  Watching them interact is fascinating and makes one wonder how they communicate with each other.  Somehow the young seem to know when it is safe to explore and when their mother is ready to move on.  Having watched them closely, it is not as simple as the young simply following their mother.  Quite often the young seem to initiate the move to a new location and when they were younger the mother would hunt alone, leaving them near their den.

After watching the mother and her young for quite awhile, we watched them cross the path in front of us and disappear into the brush. Prior to our next bobcat sighting we came upon several birds attempting to scare away a snake.  A California Kingsnake was lying below a patch of fennel and was being mobbed by Towhees and Sparrows.  Their efforts did not seem very effective and in fact seemed to put them in quite a bit of danger.   At this point we were at the opposite end of the lake from the rest of the bobcat family.  I glanced down to where we found the male bobcat on Sunday and shockingly he was standing right there!  I managed to only get a few shots while he traversed the brush below us before he disappeared.  He does not seem to be as casual as the other bobcats and is always either hunting or marking territory.

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“Bobcat Family”  -  Lake Los Carneros, Goleta, Ca

Dragonfly – Anax junius

Dragonflies are really amazing creatures, but I might be a bit biased, having worked with them in a research lab at Penn State while in college.  (Believe it or not, dragonflies can help us understand aspects of heart disease.)  Back then I didn’t even think of attempting to photograph one in flight.  They are very quick and rarely stay in one place for long.  Instead, I stuck to doing static macro photography.

My first attempts several years ago were marginal successes. However, most were photographed from above, with dark water as the background.  Unfortunately, I felt this made each image appear the same and they were artistically lacking.  This approach made focusing easier but didn’t get me the results I wanted.  My more recent dragonfly photos have improved because I try to photograph them in front of a background that complements their colors and I also get low and photograph them eye-to-eye.  Being at their same level changes the perspective dramatically, and for the better!

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“Green Darner”  -  Lake Los Carneros, Goleta, CA

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Male Bobcat Seen this Morning

After hearing several reports and seeing photographic evidence that the adult male bobcat was around, we finally found him this morning!  It was a somewhat surreal encounter.  I was searching for the Virginia Rail along the edge of the lake at sunrise where there was very little cover along the shoreline.  All of a sudden all the ducks and coots flushed from the shoreline and we joked that the bobcat might be nearby.  We focused our search on the far shore on the opposite side of the peninsula.  Little did we know that he was hidden less than ten feet away from us the whole time!  When we turned back around we were startled to see the bobcat walking slowly a few feet away.  Once he realized we had seen him, he ran away.  We were able to leapfrog him and watch him reappear on the other side of the reeds and brush.  It was a very cool encounter and is amazing how well they can remain hidden.

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“Adult Male Bobcat”  -  Lake Los Carneros, Goleta, CA

Big Bird Backlog

I’ve been sitting on a ton of great bird photos that I just haven’t had the time to post.  Unfortunately I can’t post all of my favorites but here is a small selection from the last couple weeks.

~As always, you can click on the individual photos to view them larger~

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“Great Blue Heron Chase”  -  Devereux Slough, Goleta, CA