Camping Sunset Beach May 2015

This was our daughter's 6th grade camping trip.  Many of the families get together and go camping one weekend near the end of the year.  At this location, we where able to let the kids go and explore the beach while we relax.  I get a kick out of watching these guys feeding right in surf area.

There was also a couple of Western Snowy Plovers in protected areas.  Here I was able to use my zoom and then crop closer to get a couple of pictures of them.  The third picture I was able to get a shot of the eggs.  I could not see them at the beach and it was not until I cropped the picture did I find them.

Fun at Pt Reyes

My wife wanted to take her bother to Pt Reyes when he came in for the weekend before a conference he was attending.  Thus a quick trip out to the lighthouse and up the coast for oysters.  (Would normally stop by Drake Oysters but since they have been shut down, a trip up to Marshall instead.)

Out to the lighthouse just as they opened gave us a nice fog view of the ocean and area as seen in this picture.

But I was surprised to see the pelicans.  For some reason I like these birds and enjoy taking pictures of them.  Here at the lighthouse gave me a interesting view of them but I wish I had my other lens.



Anyway about the lighthouse itself, it still has the older light mechanism which was rotated via a large counter-weight.  Basically think of it like a large grandfather clock on its side.  These pictures I tried to capture some of the mechanism, poorly. :-)  I also like the large brass wheels that the light actually rotated on.  Notice the supports between the wheels, that is used to relieve the wheels of baring the weight of the housing, thus helping to preserve them.



Here is a picture of what the weather does to trees.  Many trees on the coast are shaped like this because of the consistent on shore wind.

Leaving the area, we had to stop and take a look at the sea lions.  Hey not much to photograph but there was two guys giving a little show.



Last, I had to stop by Earthquake Trail.  I've never been on that path even though we stop by the visitor center a couple of times per year.  Here is a place where the earth literally jumped.  During the 1906 SF earthquake, this area shifted 16 feet and it is at this fence where they preserved that bit of history.  Shown is Jennah, Qun and her brother trying to reach both ends of the fence.  The plaque at the site said the earth shifted the 16 feet in a matter of 1 to 2 seconds.  (They also have pictures of other fences being patched with long poles connecting the two fence halves.  There is also a picture taken in 1906 showing the fence and a barn in the background and the amazing thing is that barn is still standing.)

Just another backroad place in Northern California that most people do not realize exists.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Tentacles

The Monterey Bay Aquarium just opened a new exhibit called tentacles.  They did a very good job and I got some pictures from it.  The problem that I am having is that I am exceeding the low light capacity of my camera.  (You really do not want to use flash around these light sensitive and marvelous creatures.)  (I also need a new camera.)

Many of the creatures in these exhibits are small but interesting.  Some even just attached themselves to the glass.  The banded one was a little bigger than my hand, while the other two where about the size of my thumb.


This guy was just hanging out on the window.  He was one of the large one at the show.

The really strange one was this 'pancake' octopus.  I was so mesmerized by it that I forgot to read about it.  I also got a video of it.  One of the few times it do that.

Here just happens to be another video of a smaller octopus who was hanging out on the wall.  You can hear that I was thinking that my dropping onto my knee to get the picture may have startled him because he changed color.  But I am not sure, I was talking to my daughter while filming.

And the star of the show, as if octopus are not enough was the Nautilus.  This thing was just weird.  He was just hanging right there and then started to move.  They have about 6 to 8 in the exhibit and well, you just want to take one home.

Monterey Bay April 2014

Well we got back from another short trip to Monterey, yes it is nice being this close to that area.  Also I would love to move there.

Anyway, while the kids played on the beach and before we went to the aquarium to see the new exhibit, I caught these two feeding very close in.  This was a mom and a young one.



I especially like the look of the teeth in the cropped image.

Also the youngster kept popping up and looking around for mom.  They where always coming up first and waiting at the surface.

Here was a nice shot where I caught them both diving.  Reminiscence of whale watching.

Even the seagulls where getting into the action when the otters threw out their leftovers.

Berkeley Marina

Last weekend walked around Berkeley marina.  Nice little walk and you can be surprised at times.  My wife told me about some ground owls which nest in the area and we did find one.  It seems that they have been nesting every year in the same area but there numbers are going down.  This year they said non have shown up yet, but we did find the one and with talking with some bird watchers in the area, that one showed up a couple of weeks before.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the owl.


Also the areas is known for the Herons or Egrets.  I'm not sure of the different types but there where two types in the area.  Here are a couple of shots of them.  (I try to practice with birds since I find them so hard to shoot.  They are constantly moving and to get feather detail is tricky.  Thus the following pictures I tended to get the focus pretty good but detail was lacking.  It did not help that is was the afternoon sun also.)


Here are a couple of shots of a brown pelican.  (I'm pretty sure that is its name.)


I caught this guy taking off on burst (6 frames per second).  They all tended to be in focus thus I have added the sequence.


This was one second after the last shot.  He obviously saw food and dove back in.