Readers’ wildlife photos

Reader Joe Dickson sent a few mammal and bird photos from his camping trip:

Here are some photos from a recent camping trip up the coast of Northern California and back down the Central Valley.

I’m not sure if your fondness for squirrels extends to the ground dwelling varieties, but first up is  a California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi), on the bluffs at a beach park just north of Fort Bragg.

Next some Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  This is said to be the largest  North American subspecies.  It was rutting season, and the first shot is a successful bull who was “escorting” 20-30 cows  Next, a juvenile male (just finished scratching himself like a d*g), still being tolerated among the cows and calfs.  Finally, a “loser” seen off by himself.

The Steller’s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), also at Prairie Creek, is almost painfully bold around humans but usually so active that it’s hard to get a decent picture.

Finally, in the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, enormous numbers of wintering ducks and geese were present.  The geese were mostly white-fronted (Anser albifrons, a description referring to the forehead) and snow geese (Chen caerulescens).  The Ducks were mostly northern pintails (Anas acuta).   One photo shows a modest number of both kinds of geese not too far off (white fronted to the left and taking flight), but a white streak visible through the reeds and grass in the right hand two thirds of the image is a mass of snow geese.  

The final photo is one of several remarkable concentration of pintails seen throughout the refuge, with some white-fronted geese (and other ducks?) mixed in.