Route 66 California

Route 66

One our recent desert road trip, we found ourselves on Route 66 for a while. We passed some seriously forlorn-looking old eateries, defunct and barely surviving service stations, and some funky little communities that look like they are ever-so-slowly fading away. It was strange to think that before the interstate…
April 8, 2008
Las Vegas Blvd, 3am Las VegasNevada

Las Vegas Blvd, 3am

View from a taxicab after a hard night on the Las Vegas Strip, trying to figure out whether to hit another club, bar, casino or just call it a night. Image ID: 20566Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA More photos of Las Vegas at night.
March 29, 2008
California Poppies — Bug’s Eye View San DiegoWildflowers

California Poppies — Bug’s Eye View

More California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) madness. These were shot with a super-turbo-customized tilt-shift-micro-bugeye lens I just received from Canon Covert Services. California poppy plants viewed from the perspective of a bug walking below the bright orange blooms. Image ID: 20539 Species: California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, Eschscholtzia californica Location: Del Dios,…
March 11, 2008
Photos of Elsinore Poppies Wildflowers

Photos of Elsinore Poppies

Last week I spent a few hours photographing the California poppy blooms close to home. Today I got out with a friend and we hiked around the Santa Rosa Plateau and the hills around I-15 in Elsinore, looking for good stuff to photograph. These California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are from…
March 9, 2008
Poppy Explosion San DiegoWildflowers

Poppy Explosion

You spins the zoom ring and you takes your chances: California poppies in a blend of rich orange color, blurred by a time exposure. Image ID: 20506 Species: California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, Eschscholtzia californica Location: Del Dios, San Diego, California, USA
March 6, 2008
Speeding Cormorant Seabird

Speeding Cormorant

This is a photograph of a cormorant speeding over the ocean, viewed from above. Taken in pre-dawn light, the slow shutter speed of the camera allowed the details of the bird and water to smear across the image. Double-crested cormorants in flight at sunrise, long exposure produces a blurred motion.…
March 2, 2008
Not What It Looks Like Harbor SealWildlife

Not What It Looks Like

At first glance this looks like a typical mother and pup harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) pair. Its pupping season right now and this scene is repeated on the Children's Pool beach all day long. However, this pup struggling, and appeared to me to perhaps have been abandoned. At least…
February 29, 2008
Stretch CaliforniaHarbor SealWildlife

Stretch

Same harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) as yesterday, here caught in the middle of a post-nap stretch. Pacific harbor seal yawns and stretches on a sandy beach. Image ID: 20455 Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi Location: La Jolla, California, USA
February 25, 2008
Yawn CaliforniaFunnyHarbor SealWildlife

Yawn

This harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) doesn't look too motivated this morning. Pacific harbor seal yawns and stretches on a sandy beach. Image ID: 20447 Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi Location: La Jolla, California, USA
February 24, 2008
Newborn CaliforniaHarbor SealWildlife

Newborn

This tiny harbor seal pup (Phoca vitulina richardsi) is pretty young, it still has its umbilical cord hanging on its belly. Pacific harbor seal, newborn pup with umbilical cord Image ID: 20448 Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi Location: La Jolla, California, USA
February 23, 2008
Rough Sex CaliforniaElephant SealWildlife

Rough Sex

In this photograph an adult male northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) mates with a much smaller female. Note that the female is not given much choice in the matter. This is quite typical in elephant seal society, somewhat akin to human society of a few million years ago. The female's…
February 20, 2008
Photo of Bull Elephant Seal Bellowing in Fog CaliforniaElephant SealWildlife

Photo of Bull Elephant Seal Bellowing in Fog

Another photograph of a northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) "bull" bellowing on a foggy central California beach. Partially obscured by coastal morning fog, this male elephant seal rears up on its foreflippers and bellows to intimidate other males and to survey its beach territory. Winter, Central California.Image ID: 20418Species: Elephant…
February 17, 2008
Munch CaliforniaElephant SealWildlife

Munch

Check it out, these are two bull elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) fighting for territory and mating access to females. The bull on the right has got the upper hand, having a firm grip on the proboscis (nose) of the seal on the left. It might look funny but it is…
February 16, 2008
Weaner CaliforniaElephant SealWildlife

Weaner

This is a "weaner", a young northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) that has been weaned (is no longer nursing milk from its mother) and is now on its own. In fact its mother has probably already left the beach and is now at far at sea foraging for food. This…
February 15, 2008
Crowded Beach CaliforniaElephant SealWildlife

Crowded Beach

Here we see part of the burgeoning Piedras Blancas colony of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) crowding the beach. In actuality this is about half of the animals that were here at the peak, a few weeks earlier. Many of the females have already weaned there pups (or lost them…
February 13, 2008
Bull Fog CaliforniaElephant SealWildlife

Bull Fog

I arrived at the elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) rookery before sunrise and walked out in heavy fog, not able to even see the water. Gradually the fog burned off as the sun appeared and I could start to see some of the seals. Here is a big bull splayed out…
February 12, 2008