I am so glad that I headed out today!
I had thought I would head into Samuel P Taylor State Park to look for mushrooms in the rain but I've never been there and couldn't figure out where the trail heads were located. I found several turn outs but the only "official" looking area was the campground. So instead I drove past and ended up in Point Reyes... the clouds were breaking up to some extent so I went looking for raptors. I found several Red-tailed Hawks, a Red-shoulder Hawk and a Harrier Hawk but they were all pretty skiddish and flew away just before could achieve a focus lock.
The highlight came in the Tule Elk reserve. I
noticed a bit of brown/gold fur poking out under the guard rail. Low and behold a beautiful coyote came into view. He gave me one split second look before trotting off to hunt more mice.
Later in the day I ran into several very cooperative Mule Deer.
To top it all off, on the way through Olema I found a beautiful Bobcat mousing in a field. What a wonderful day!
The nice warm, sunny days brought out lots of Monk Seals to the beaches of Midway. The majority of the beaches are closed to human activity because the Monk Seals are so easily disturbed. Too bad they don't seem to know which beaches belong to them and which belong to the people! Seriously though, they can have whatever beach they want. I managed to find one seal sound asleep on the beach. By positioning myself behind my cart and some shrubbery... and of course the camera... I managed to look entirely NOT human. I watched her for a little while, firing off shots now and again. At one point she rolled over, looked right at the camera, scratched and rolled the other way and went back to sleep. That split second was all I needed to grab my portrait with my long lens and telec
onverter. When I was certain she was asleep again I crept away. I always love being able to get within photography range of an animal, getting the shot and getting away without effecting the animals behavior in the slightest. A great feeling.
