I've Been Away and Busy

For the last few months I've been on Southeast Farallon Island.

On a foggy morning at the SEFI lighthouse

 Having an amazing time in the fog and occasional sun

Olive-sided Flycatcher on a background of Farallon Weed

 looking at lots of seabirds and the occasional landbird

Steller's Sea Lion

 every once and awhile we'd get mammals too!

Black Oystercatcher chick, ready to fledge

Check out some more of my photos on my flickr account!

Also, just made a post on the Farallon blog page on bird photography here!

Rocket Netting, Goose Catching

Ever wanted to blast a net at a bunch of geese and then go wrangle em down for banding and measurements? Yea, me too. Well, we didn't get to blast it at a bunch of geese, but we did get to use military grade explosives to shoot it and then get the experience. Super fun. Hopefully I'll get some more opportunities like this. Being a wildlife major is wonderful.

The Vistas

How much you wanna bet that the people in the photo above were looking at something like the photo below?

Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows of the Eclipse

 Photos from a long time ago (Spring 2012, oh yea). Most of this is from when I was doing Tree Swallow banding for a grad student last spring, which was one of the most fun field work I had done. Pictured above is a first year female Tree Swallow, ready to fight me to the point of discomfort to protect her eggs.

 This shot is from a very strange nest that was initially House Wrens, but was then taken over by Tree Swallows mid season. The white eggs are Tree Swallow and the brown speckled are left over from the House Wren. Of the three that hatched, two were Tree Swallows and one was a House Wren! Sadly, the house wren didn't make it to fledge this year. There was a storm soon after hatch and it did not survive.

The typical Tree Swallow nest. Quite the decorators.

Ready to leave the nest which means ready to be banded!

A shot from right before the eclipse in Spring 2012. The Barn Swallows were going wild above Putah Creek.

Rock Textures

Here are a few texture shots I took while in Zion National Park. Not something I do much of; I find it incredibly difficult to capture the rock as it really appears in nature.

It really is astounding to me how little I know of geology. Really fascinating stuff that shapes the entirety of the world around us. There is just so much knowledge out there in the landscape.

Southern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata)

I think it is, at least. This guy was a challenge to shoot at such a narrow depth of field. Really small and fast moving made for a tough target!

There Are Adventure to Be Had

Off to Zion! Picture is irrelephant.

Field Biology

I have so many research project going on right now it's hard to keep track.

WFC 195 - Affects of weather on incubation times in Brandt's Cormorants and how it affects their foraging.

WFC 136 - Flight initiation distance in urbanized Mallard ducks in Davis, CA.

WFC 155L - habitat use of Piciformes in relation to invertebrates collected at specific field sites at Cache Creek Nature Preserve. This shot is of my friend record some data after invert sampling at one of our field sites. Fun stuff!

Peace of Mind

I'm on the search for it at the moment. There are a lot of things going on this quarter, a hefty school load, jobs, looking for a job, senior thesis, friends, community. This picture of Lake Tahoe definitely puts me in a calmer mood.

Ladybird Beetle

bugsbugsbugs. Been looking at so many insects recently. They're a lot cooler than most people give them credit for. Why am I doing this? Because I'm working on a project that investigates correlations of invertebrates (both family and quantity) in relation to the presence of Piciformes species. Its fantastic! Gets me a chance to climb trees, sweep net for insects, and bird watch all at the same time.

Cabin Porn

I could live here. Beautiful places to live, here.

Similar Shots

I love it when I'm looking through my shots and I find similarities between them. These two were taken about a month apart from each other. One was taken under a dock, exploring in Lake Tahoe. The other was taken while exploring the rocks and caves around Bishop Peak in San Luis Obispo. Both cast some shadowy figures against a light backdrop with some unique natural framing.

Going for a Swim

The frigid waters of Lake Tahoe were just to tempting when I went for a visit a few weeks ago. Maybe I'll take up ice water swimming as my next endurance venture....

Hiking Success

Another weekend in Big Sur, California to lift the spirits beyond that of the material world. Went backpacking with seven others on the Sykes hotsprings trail (we did roughly 20 miles) over the long weekend. I was a bit sick, but didn't care because of how amazing everything was around me.

Also, saw some birds I hadn't seen before! Common Yellowthroat, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Varied Thrush, Mountain Chickadee, and potentially a Townsend's Warbler

These are the Days

Hiking with this girl brings me a new sort of joy that I haven't experienced in a long time. This was taken in Redwood Park in Arcata, CA. I love the soft lighting that the fog brings to everything...like a dream.

I'm Kind of Like These Rocks Right Now...

a little bit tipsy.

"balancing rocks is a lot like playing with legos: if it breaks, you can just rebuild it" -Me

The Sky is Huge

Both taken at the Rockport Reservoir in Utah. Absolutely stunning. The first one was taken in the dead of night.

Creatures While You Wait

It has been a hell of a first week living in my new home and I think it will only get better. That being said, however, I'm not sure how often I'll keep posting. I'm still taking lots of photos, but I'm just not on my computer as much. Anyways, here are some more insects!

A caterpillar nomming and a butterfly laying its next generation.

Bigfoot

Sasquatch doesn't need trails to navigate.

The Devil's Apple

Found in the hills of the Big Creek Reserve, Big Sur

"Notorious for its toxicity, Jimson Weed is a large flowering plant with the genus Datura and the family Solanaceae. It has long white trumpet-like flowers. Its seeds grow in pods and can be consumed (or its leaves can be smoked) to produce an extremely potent psychoactive effect.

A typical dose is 5 to 7 seeds, but it has been reported effective in as little as 2. An overdose can cause delirium, delusions, paralysis, stupor and death. This is due to its dangerous combination of atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine.

Its effects are said to always trigger a 24 to 48 hour anticholinergic delirium, which basically means the user is incapable of distinguishing fantasy from reality - NOT to be confused with hallucination in which the user may know is false interpretation. Overall, no matter how bizarre things get, the user will still find the twisted reality credible.

Users report when they are not hallucinating, they still are susceptible to abnormal actions which the user perceives as normal, and things the user would never do seem like just an everyday activity: ie. Rearranging furniture into one corner of the room in a very obviously impractical way, but the user, completely aware of what they are doing still does not see it as abnormal and may believe they are doing something useful."