dailyanimals

Reason number one. Most of the muskrat is under the water.

A rare view of a muskrat heading towards the photographer

Reason number two. Muskrats like reeds. Reeds and reflections of reeds make a horrible mess of the background.

A muskrat caught in the beam of a searchlight as he attempts a daring escape from Alcatraz Island

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/284226.html

No kiwi fruit is safe from the hypnotic powers of Scary Lemur's patented googly eyes!

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/283925.html

Space Newt supervises at the birth of a new galaxy

Suddenly, Space Newt is attacked by an evil pan-dimensional being! It's Space Vampire Newt!

How will Space Newt escape? Will he make it to the safety of the Green Frond Nebula in time? Tune in next week for further exciting adventures of Space Newt!

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/283896.html

In the past month I have been back to visit both of my local otter families. There were the usual four otters at Rodeo Lagoon; I was able to watch them for a while as they hunted along the shore and made themselves attractive with clever arrangements of reeds. At Abbotts Lagoon only two (out of the six) bothered to even show up. If this keeps up I will definitely be voting for the Rodeo Lagoon otters in the next 'best otters of California' competition.

Abbotts Lagoon otter (losing otter)

Rodeo Lagoon otter (winning otter)

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/283402.html

Most of these photos were taken on our third day of bear-watching, which was our first full day in the Wapusk National Park (Wapusk means 'white bear' in the native Cree language). This was possibly the best photography day of the trip, with wonderful light and some great bear activity.

The dancing bears of Cape Churchill.

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/283180.html

A special Christmas posting for those of you who have been waiting to see some of my polar bear photos. These are a mother bear with two cubs that we encountered on our first day at Cape Churchill. I know it looks like she has blood on her nose, but it's actually just dirty from digging for seaweed under the snow.

Also, a couple of ptarmigans.

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/283097.html

Every Christmas tree should have an otter

"I am eating all your decorations!"

"This green fish-smelling thing is mine! All mine!"

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/282764.html

"If we close our eyes and wish real hard ..."

"Look what appeared on the branch!"

"Yummy bamboo wreath! All for me!"

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/282547.html

For the past couple of weeks I have been up in very cold parts of northern Canada, taking photos of polar bears on the edge of the Hudson Bay. I now have 8000-odd photos of polar bears to sort through. This may take me a while.

In the meantime, here are some photos of a yellow-throated marten at Winnipeg Zoo. I used to think the pine marten was the prettiest of the weasels, but now I'm not so sure.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/282147.html

Earlier this month I went up to the Sutter Buttes for a 'bat research outing' organized by the Middle Mountain Foundation. Bat research in this case consisted of setting up nets over a muddy puddle to catch the bats as they were out hunting. The captured bats were weighed and measured and then released, sometimes with tiny glow-sticks glued to their tummies so we could watch where they flew.

The bats:

California myotis (the ring of white fur on the second bat is not usual, nobody was quite sure what it was).

Hoary bat

Pallid bat

Red bat (I didn't get any good photos of the red bat this time, so this photo is from the last time I did this, in 2009)

Random photo of some trees looking pretty in the evening light

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/282020.html

After the gloriously sunny day when I first met the army of the six otters, the otters have remembered how to work the water magics and have shrouded their home in a thick blanket of fog. Fortunately I have the fog-penetrating power of Photoshop to rescue my photos from low-contrast oblivion.

But still, a little bit more sun would be nice. Maybe if I bribe the otters with some nice fat fishes they will dispel some of the clouds for me.

First time I've seen a wild otter doing this trick.
Sadly he lost his feet.

I also have some video clips of the otters playing in the sand. It's a bit shaky because I really should be using a tripod for shooting video with a 400mm telephoto lens.

( Videos under the cut )

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/281788.html

All of the weasels at the British Wildlife Centre. Have I mentioned before how much I love how many different kinds of weasels there are here?

Least weasel. The tiniest of the weasels. Here we see how an entire weasel can hide behind a blade of grass.

Stoat.

Pine marten. If the otters had forgotten to bribe the lighting director, the pine martens had insulted his mother and peed in his breakfast cereal. They are much prettier in good light.

Mink.

In the special nearly-a-weasel category, the badger.

And finally, the polecats. There was a bunch of young polecats with their mother in one of the outdoor pens. The young polecats were having fun. Mother, maybe not so much.

“Foxes got an opera; bats got an opera; why haven’t we got an opera for weasels?”

“Because when you are doing what you call ‘singing’, everybody else thinks you’re trying to bite each others’ heads off.”

“But we are! That’s what makes it fun!”

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/281583.html

Visiting with the squirrels at the British Wildlife Centre.

Photographing a squirrel running at full tilt along the top of the fencing is much harder then photographing a cat jumping over a log, and I never quite managed to get it right.

Also, bonus otter.

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/281245.html

Since my first visit the otters of Rodeo Lagoon have remembered that they are supposed to be wily and secretive, and are no longer hanging out around the parking lot right when I arrive, but instead they have been lurking in the most inaccessible regions of the far shore. It is almost as if they do not care that I have come all this way to take their photos!

Or maybe it's just that the delicious fishes have moved.

So, instead of uncooperative otters, I have been photographing some of the other animals that live in and around the lagoon.

And the birds.

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/281061.html

All these photos were taken on the same day as the foxes in my previous post, but because I am slow you are getting only one or two species at a time. I still have squirrels and lots of weasels to sort through.

Otters. The foxes had already stolen the early morning time-slot, and the otters had forgotten to bribe the lighting director, so I have lots of photos of otters in rather unflattering light.

Wildcats. This one wildcat was quite happy to jump over his log over and over again while we all tried to capture the moment on ~~film~~ digital memory.

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/280619.html

Hanging out in the fox enclosure at the British Wildlife Centre.

This was a photography day at the Centre, so we were allowed to go inside the enclosures, and the animals were bribed with food to come out and look pretty for us. For the foxes, the looking pretty is easy, but sometimes they forget about the "coming out" part.

Prints available from redbubble.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/280429.html

This past Sunday I took a cruise out on the Elkhorn Slough with the Elkhorn Slough Safari people. It was their annual sea otter trip, so they had arranged plenty of otters for us to see (I believe secret deliveries of suitcases full of unmarked clams were involved). And the weather was perfect -- the sun spent the entire afternoon sulking behind a bank of clouds, leaving us with bright overcast conditions that were ideal for photography.

And so, on with the photos!

Welcome to the Elkhorn Slough

We've got 'see no evil' down pat, what were the other two again?

Mother otter (in front) with almost full-grown pup

I was the Slough clam-eating champion for three years running!

Happiness is a wet otter

It was mostly all about the otters, but we did stop to look at the other mammals that inhabit the Slough (sea lions and seals), and even the occasional bird.

Sea lion tetris

This bird has had a fish glued to its beak

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/280273.html

Armed with secret information from the River Otter Ecology Project(*), I decided yesterday to go and look for the otters that live in Rodeo Lagoon. Because I am an experienced otter spotter, I know that it will take time to find these wily and secretive creatures, so I arrived at the lagoon shortly after sunrise.

Sure enough, after literally seconds of searching, I find the otters hanging out next to the parking lot, easily visible from the footbridge that crosses to the beach. They have forgotten that they are supposed to be wily and secretive, because the water is full of delicious fishes.

Otter is nomming!

There are four otters that live in the Rodeo Lagoon

I followed the otters as they moved around the edge of the lagoon. At one point they encountered a pair of raccoons that were skulking along the shore. Clearly these masked bandits had evil plans for stealing the otter's delicious fishes, and so they were summarily chased off. The raccoons scarpered without putting up any sort of fight, because otters are innately superior to all other animals. Also there were four otters and only two raccoons.

Evil masked bandit

Innately superior otter

(*)The secret otter map is my new favorite page on the otterweb.

Crossposts: http://dailyanimals.livejournal.com/279943.html

Hiking around Lake Chabot this past Saturday, all the cormorants were hanging out as usual on the buoys near the dam. Apparently one cormorant on top and two on the base is the limit for one buoy, and these three were not going to let a fourth bird join them on their perch.

"We're totally full here. Go away!"

"You're not full, I can see, you got a whole empty section round the back. I can just sneak in there all quiet-like, and you'd never know I was there."

"We are full! Full! Everyone knows you can't have four birds on one buoy. Poor Sammy here lost some of his best feathers in the Great Toppling-Over of '09! And we need that space for stretching our wings!"

"Well, fine. Your buoy is stupid anyway. I'm going to sit on the much nicer buoy at the other end of this rope."

North American River Otters (Lutra canadensis), Point Reyes National Seashore, 3 September 2012

Also on deviantart, flickr

Animal photography by Anthony "Jaffa" Brewer

Recent Entries

Two reasons why muskrat photography is a bit tricky

Scary Lemur

Thrilling adventures of Space Newt

Otters

Dance of the white bears

Polar bears (day one)

Dreaming of an otter Christmas

Holiday Magic at Sacramento Zoo

Pretty, pretty weasels

Bats of the Sutter Buttes

Otters of Abbotts Lagoon

Weasels!

Red Squirrels at the BWC

Rodeo Lagoon

Otters and Wildcats at the BWC

Foxes at the British Wildlife Centre

Sea Otters of Elkhorn Slough

Otters of Rodeo Lagoon

1074 No room on the buoy

1073 Otters play in the sand