This photo of a striped skunk will appear in the upcoming April – June issue of Bay Nature, a quarterly magazine promoting the diversity of the natural world around the San Francisco Bay Area. The image will appear in an article about the art and science of tracking the wild creatures that populate our increasingly urbanized world.
You can read more about the capture of this image in an earlier post.
My favorite exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the Sandy Shore Exhibit, a constructed habitat for a variety of local shorebirds, which for one reason or another have become captive and can no longer survive in the wild.
Here is a sanderling, which can be found up and down California’s coast. While they can be seen regularly roosting on the beach, it was great to be able to get up close and really appreciate each bird’s attributes.
I spoke to a docent at the exhibit, who said that many of these birds had been injured in the wild, and can not be rehabilitated to the point that they can be released. Others were born in captivity at zoos and other facilities, and made their way to the aquarium due to its excellent reputation.
These birds receive excellent care, being given food, shelter, and even extra attention for their young. The birds were quite comfortable with the visitors moving through their habitat, and proceeded with their natural behavior. With no glass or obstruction between the viewer and the habitat, you were able to feel as if you were amongst the birds instead of just viewing them from a different environment.
In addition to the dunlin and ruddy turnstone above, which are regular San Francisco bay area residents, a black-bellied plover was present in its winter colors. This plover is one of those difficult species to identify that can look like a completely different bird in the summer verses the winter. As I have been learning to ID birds, I find myself needing to learn not only each species, but each plumage a species can display throughout the year.
I was able to get excellent views of a semipalmated plover, which I’ve had bad luck with in the wild. The few times I’ve seen one have been at such a distance as to make it not possible to photograph. While photographing captive birds doesn’t really “count” per se, I still enjoyed the opportunity to see one up close.
I would highly recommend a visit to the aquarium, particularly this exhibit. Captive animals can serve as a great means by which to practice photography, especially if you do not have long lenses in your arsenal. Most of the shots here were taken between 200 and 300mm, all hand held. I’ll be sure to get back there soon.
Late last year I finally made it to the Monterey Aquarium for the first time. In addition to fish and water mammals, I was happy to see a variety of birds there, including an excellent local injured bird care facility (stay tuned for a future post specifically covering those birds). I hope to make it back soon, because there is so much to see there (I didn’t even make it all the way around in one visit). Here are a few of my personal highlights.
First up, in the seahorse exhibit, was the leafy seadragon.
This master of disguise was quite amazing to watch moving about its tank. I would love to see one in its natural environment to see how well it can blend into surrounding vegetation.
The aquarium had a quite extensive jellyfish collection as well.
And of course, no aquarium is complete without many, many fish. Here is a large bony fish (I didn’t catch the species of this one, and he looked rather grumpy so I didn’t bother asking him).
One of my favorite fish seen that day was the ocean sunfish, mostly because if its sheer size.
The sunfish is the heaviest known bony fish in the world, with an average weight of 2200 pounds. The largest specimens can be over 10 feet in length, 14 feet across the fins, and weigh up to 5100 pounds.
And of course some birds! Here are two species I’d have to travel to Alaska to see in the wild: the tufted puffin and the horned puffin.
I highly recommend a visit here, particularly if you can get there on a non-field trip week day. Other days can get quite busy. There is a ton to see, and it is hard to beat the beauty of the surrounding coastline of Pacific Grove and Carmel.
For my New Year’s post this year, I added an image of a black-necked stilt chick and its mother. I have finally processed additional photos from that day of the same chick and its siblings (there were three altogether).
I found this family at a popular birding spot near my home. While I had heard reports that nesting activity had occurred here in the past, I had never seen stilt chicks here myself. It was a joy to watch these little guys stumble around on shaky legs until they got tired, and had to take a break by sitting down on the shoreline.
Soon enough, they would recover and bounce back into action. One of the three was more adventurous than then others, venturing away from the shelter of the brush in search of food.
It was fun to watch them interact with each other. I could imagine talking to each other in their own little language, telling each other where the best food could be found.
When one chick would wander off too far, the mother would swoop in and corral it back to the others. Hopefully this family had good luck and all of these chicks made it through the nesting season. I look forward to scoping out this spot in the future for more nesting activity and a close up view of parents bringing these little ones into the world.
