Natural History Photography Blog

Cooperative Bubble-Net Lunge Feeding by Humpback Whales in Southeast Alaska

admin — Sun, 31 May 2026 23:18:38 +0000

Southeast Alaska is where humpback whale coordinated bubble-net feeding was first described. The behavior has since become one of the best-studied examples of coordinated foraging in any of the baleen whales. By working together and using a combination of movement, sound and positioning the whales are able to efficiently capture mouthfuls of fish.

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41587
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Cooperative bubble-net lunge feeding is a prey-corralling tactic in which one or more humpback whales dive beneath a prey patch, release a discrete sequence of bubbles while swimming in a broad arc or spiral, and create a rising cylindrical or spiral “net” that blocks prey laterally while the sea surface blocks escape above; the whales then surge upward and engulf the concentrated prey in one or more near-surface lunges. In the definitive Southeast Alaska description, Jurasz & Jurasz (1979) emphasized that the bubbles form a ring or closing spiral and that the prey becomes both contained and concentrated inside it before the lunge. In the classic Southeast Alaska literature, the main prey tied directly to bubble-netting are Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii; older papers often used Clupea harengus) and euphausiids or krill, especially Euphausia pacifica. The broader Southeast Alaska prey base for humpbacks also includes capelin (Mallotus villosus) and, in later innovative solo variants, juvenile salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), but the historic cooperative bubble-net literature is centered first on herring and euphausiids rather than on every prey item humpbacks eat in the region. Mechanistically, the behavior works because the whales do not merely find dense prey; they re-shape the prey field. That interpretation was later supported experimentally by Sharpe & Dill (1997), who showed that Pacific herring strongly avoid bubbles and can be contained within a circular bubble curtain.

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41583
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Bubble-net feeding is role-structured. In D’Vincent et al. (1985), an eight-whale pod near Admiralty Island repeatedly performed coordinated vertical lunges in fixed spatial positions; in some events, seven whales surfaced simultaneously inside the bubble ring while the eighth appeared to finish the net. Acoustic studies beginning with D’Vincent et al. (1985), continuing through Thompson, Cummings & Ha (1986), Cerchio & Dahlheim (2001), and Fournet et al. (2018), support at least three recurring functional contributions in herring-associated events: a bubble-net maker, one or more whales that maintain stable lunge positions in the formation, and a “vocal” role associated with the stereotyped feeding call near 500 Hz. That said, role labels remain partly inferential because no one can always see every submerged whale at once, and whales may switch jobs across bouts. As for numbers, the foundational peer-reviewed Southeast Alaska records document cooperative bubble-net events involving two adults in the first detailed Juneau observation and eight whales in the classic Admiralty Island study. What is still missing, even in 2026, is a peer-reviewed Southeast Alaska-wide census of exactly how many living whales are cooperative bubble-net specialists. The most defensible current statement is therefore that bubble-net feeding remains a specialized, socially structured subset of the regional foraging repertoire rather than a behavior used by every humpback in Southeast Alaska. For Southeast Alaska specifically, the clearest quantitative estimate now available concerns whales that themselves manufactured bubble-nets during systematic surveys: Szabo et al. (2024) documented solitary bubble-net foraging in 21 of 742 uniquely filmed whales (2.8%) in northern Southeast Alaska between 2019 and 2021. A comparable peer-reviewed Southeast Alaska-wide percentage for all cooperative bubble-net participants combined has not yet been published, so the safest conclusion is that bubble-net makers are a minority subset of the regional population.

Humpback whale surfaces during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41582
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

The Southeast Alaska literature shows that “bubble-net feeding” is not a single maneuver but a family of related tactics that vary with prey, group size, and perhaps learned traditions of particular whales. Jurasz & Jurasz (1979) distinguished lunge feeding, bubble-net feeding, and flick feeding, and they reported that herring nets are generally larger and slower to close than euphausiid nets. D’Vincent et al. (1985) further showed that groups can be cooperative even when a visible bubble net is absent: their whales switched from feeding on euphausiids within a net to coordinated vertical lunges on a large herring school without visibly blowing a new net each time. Underwater work by Wiley et al. (2011) clarified that bubble-netting includes important submerged components and that the net is a three-dimensional structure, not just a surface ring. Solitary whales do practice the behavior differently from groups. In northern Southeast Alaska, Szabo et al. (2024) showed that solitary whales feeding on krill manufacture internally tangential multi-ring nets and appear to control ring number, net size, net depth, and bubble spacing to raise per-lunge prey intake. That study is also important conceptually because it explicitly argues that manufactured bubble-nets are tools: at least in the solitary Southeast Alaska form, the whale builds and adjusts a physical bubble structure to alter prey behavior and improve capture efficiency. Kosma et al. (2019) then documented solo bubble-netting followed by horizontal or vertical pectoral herding, with vertical lunges, lateral lunges, and flipper-generated secondary barriers, mostly around juvenile salmon release sites. In short, group bubble-netting in Southeast Alaska is most strongly associated with cooperative herring feeding and fixed multi-whale coordination, while solitary bubble-netting is more individually adjustable and more likely to be modified with tight multi-ring nets or pectoral maneuvers aimed at krill or juvenile salmon.

Humpback whales bubblenet feeding in Southeast Alaska. Coordinated bubble-net feeding is a specialized cooperative feeding technique used by humpback whales, where a group of whales works together to trap fish or krill in a net of bubbles then lunge through to feed.
Image ID: 40921
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

The behavior is distributed across the protected inner waterways of Southeast Alaska rather than at a single famous viewpoint. The original Jurasz & Jurasz (1979) study area included Glacier Bay, Lynn Canal, and Frederick Sound, and their field program began near Juneau. Their first detailed herring bubble-net record came from the south tip of Shelter Island near Juneau on 13 July 1974, and one of the first euphausiid bubble-net observations came from Frederick Sound near Five Finger Light on 21 August 1975. The classic coordinated study by D’Vincent et al. (1985) took place at the southwest tip of Admiralty Island, where a shoal separates Chatham Strait and Frederick Sound, during 9–11 August 1983. More recent work has added other Southeast Alaska subregions: Szabo et al. (2024) documented a large aggregation of solitary bubble-netting whales at the confluence of Frederick Sound and lower Stephens Passage in mid-July 2019, while Kosma et al. (2019) documented solo bubble-net and pectoral-herding tactics in Warm Springs Bay, Takatz Bay, Kasnyku Bay, Kelp Bay, and at Hidden Falls Hatchery between 2016 and 2018. Sitka Sound deserves separate mention because it is now one of the best-known contemporary Southeast Alaska sites for the behavior. An academic note from 2025 reports that humpbacks are frequently present there in large numbers in late March during the pre-spawn Pacific herring aggregation, and Straley et al. (2018) shows that Sitka Sound also supports fall and winter humpback foraging on both herring and krill. In addition, Burrows et al. (2016) documented deep krill-focused foraging by tagged humpbacks in Sitka Sound in September 2012. Seasonally, the classic summer concentration is July–August, but Southeast Alaska humpbacks may feed as early as April and as late as November in the older literature, and some areas such as Sitka Sound and Lynn Canal now support substantial fall and winter presence as well.

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41580
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41581
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

The definitive Southeast Alaska description belongs first to Charles M. Jurasz and Virginia P. Jurasz (1979), who turned years of direct observation into a formal description of lunge feeding, bubble-net feeding, and flick feeding, tied each to prey type, and documented the first detailed regional examples. D’Vincent, Nilson and Hanna (1985) then provided the first detailed account of fixed positions, coordinated vertical lunges, and the associated low-frequency feeding call in Southeastern Alaska. From that point forward, the literature shifted to explaining how it works. Thompson et al. (1986) quantified sounds and source levels associated with Southeast Alaska humpback behavior. Sharpe & Dill (1997) experimentally demonstrated that herring avoid bubbles and can be constrained by bubble curtains. Cerchio & Dahlheim (2001) quantified variation in feeding vocalizations, while Fournet et al. (2018) showed that the famous feeding call is also produced by solitary whales, broadening its presumed function from pure group coordination toward prey manipulation. In the same year, Fournet et al. (2018) documented striking multi-decadal stability in the Southeast Alaskan calling repertoire. Kosma et al. (2019) described pectoral herding as an innovative solo refinement of bubble-net feeding. Szabo et al. (2024) used tags and drones to show that solitary bubble-nets function as adjustable tools that can increase prey intake, and Nemeth et al. (2025) linked the behavior to humpback-specific turning performance and flipper-generated lift. For the question of whether the behavior is learned rather than wholly instinctive, two studies matter especially: Allen et al. (2013) showed that another humpback foraging innovation, lobtail feeding, spread culturally through social transmission, and Wray et al. (2026) then provided direct, strong evidence for social learning of both cooperative and solo bubble-netting in the northern Canadian Pacific. Taken together, those findings support treating bubble-net feeding as a socially learned tradition rather than a wholly instinctive, fixed response. Finally, although it was conducted in the adjacent Canadian Pacific rather than Southeast Alaska, Wray et al. (2026) is one of the most important recent comparative studies because it provides evidence that both cooperative and solo bubble-netting can diffuse through whale social networks, strengthening the case that the behavior is culturally transmitted as well as ecologically useful. Ongoing field programs by NOAA Fisheries, the Alaska Whale Foundation, the UAS Sitka Whale Lab, and the Marine Mammal Research Program continue to combine photo-identification, acoustics, prey mapping, biologging tags, and drones to study exactly how Southeast Alaska humpbacks coordinate, innovate, and pass these tactics on.

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41585
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41584
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Selected academic publications

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41598
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41602
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41592
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41599
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41600
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whales surface together during coordinated bubble-net feeding in Southeast Alaska. The whales use bubbles, sound, and movement to corral fish before capturing them in their open mouths.
Image ID: 41624
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Fiji, the Soft Coral Capital of the World

admin — Fri, 15 May 2026 00:49:51 +0000

Fiji is the “Soft Coral Capital of the World” for its extensive, diverse, and visually spectacular soft-coral communities. In particular, the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape is rich in seamounts, walls, pinnacles and bommies with upwelling water where soft corals are abundant. Fiji’s distinction as the Soft Coral Capital of the World arises from complex underwater topography, strong currents, and endless substrate where suspension-feeding soft corals can thrive. Fiji lies in the tropical South Pacific, between about 15 and 22 degrees south latitude, with islands and reefs spread across a large area. Constant oceanic currents combine with local conditions to produce a wide variation of water flow through the islands and the soft corals grow in vast numbers as a result.

Tracy and Chironephthya soft corals on the wall of Mount Mutiny, a spectacular deepwater sea mount in the Bligh Waters of Fiji.
Image ID: 41022
Species: Chironephthya soft coral, Chironephthya
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Soft corals are animals, although their branching and flower-like forms invite comparison with plants. The most prominant soft corals in Fiji are octocorals: colonial cnidarians whose polyps typically have eight tentacles around the mouth. Unlike reef-building hard corals, soft corals do not lay down massive limestone skeletons; they rely instead on flexible tissues, tiny internal skeletal elements, and water-filled support. They appear as stones, fans, trees, leathers, or fields of living color. The principal Fijian forms are Sinularia, Sarcophyton, and Lobophytum; nephthiid soft corals such as Dendronephthya and Nephthea; and tree-shaped or fan-like forms including Chironephthya, Echinogorgia, Siphonogorgia, and Subergorgia. Differentiating among them often needs specialist expertise.

Purple is the new Black. Anthias swarm around a huge purple sea fan gorgonian which lies perpendicular to prevailing currents so that it can capture plankton passing by. Gorgonians and Hard Corals on Tropical Coral Reef, Fiji Islands.
Image ID: 41026
Species: Gorgonian, Gorgonacea
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

The most luxuriant displays of soft corals occur where water movement carries suspended food across hard surfaces: vertical walls, pinnacles, outer reef slopes, bommie faces, passages, and seamount flanks. In the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape, reefs rise from depths of more than 1,000 meters in the channel between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and are bathed in upwelling, nutrient-rich waters. The result is that filter-feeding invertebrates, including soft corals, sponges, ascidians, and bivalves, flourish where the reef face receives this moving water. Different soft corals occupy different parts of the reef. In shallow and mid-depth zones, carpeting forms such as Sinularia, Sarcophyton, and Lobophytum dominate. With increasing depth, and especially on vertical or sloping faces, fans, trees, and nephthiid soft corals thrive.

Brilliantly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 34708
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias
Location: Bligh Waters, Fiji

Soft-coral feeding is varied but almost always relies on water movement. Octocorals are primarily suspension feeders, while some also live with photosynthetic symbionts. Leather-like soft corals in bright shallow water receive energy from symbiotic algae as well as from captured food, while many of the showier tree-like corals at depth rely only on what the current brings. Soft corals practice both sexual reproduction and asexual clonal replication. A soft coral colony that looks full, open, and flower-like in one current may appear contracted or diminished at another time. Colonies can change size over short periods by pumping water into an internal hydroskeleton to essentially inflate themselves.

Dendronephthya soft coral detail including polyps and calcium carbonate spicules, Fiji.
Image ID: 34715
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Anthias fishes, especially members of the genus Pseudanthias, are often seen in association with large soft corals and hard coral outcrops, where they forms large aggregations and feed on zooplankton. The Vatu-i-Ra fish survey notes that multiple Pseudanthias species as well as Chromis damselfishes and fusiliers are all found hovering over and amidst large soft coral colonies. Both fish and soft corals are exploiting the same plankton-rich flow. Soft corals also create habitat for smaller animals such as crustaceans, nudibranchs, brittle stars, feather stars, worms, and other invertebrates that may live on, shelter among, or prey upon soft-coral colonies.

Beautiful Dendronephthya soft corals display incredible color on Fijian coral reefs. Two crinoids (feather stars) cling to the top of the reef structure. Soft corals swell when the current is running and extend outward to capture passing plankton and food.
Image ID: 41028
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Namena Marine Reserve, on of the finest areas to dive in order to see beautiful soft coral displays, was established in 1997 and is the largest no-take reserve in Fiji. It is roughly 60 square kilometers encompassing a horseshoe-shaped barrier reef and Namenalala Island, south of Vanua Levu, with a high diversity of corals, invertebrates, and more than 1,000 fish species. The protection is based on Fiji's marine tenure system, or qoliqoli, in which local communities manage traditional fishing grounds. Vatu-i-Ra, in the Bligh Waters between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, is another excellent soft-coral region and is my favorite place to dive. The Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park encompasses Vatu-i-Ra Island (a critical seabird habitat) and more than 100 square kilometers of reefs, lagoons, terraces, and pinnacles off the northern coast of Viti Levu. Nearly 80 percent of the park is designated no-take with the remainder managed as catch-and-release for sustainable recreational fishing. For reaching both Namena and Vatu-i-Ra, my favorite dive boat is Nai'a, a 120-foot by 30-foot Dutch-built steel vessel that began operating in Fiji in 1993. Nai'a operates in the Bligh Water, Vatu-i-Ra, E6 & Mount Mutiny, Wakaya, Gau, Makogai and Namena, and sometimes, Somosomo Strait and Taveuni.

Spectacularly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 41029
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Black sun coral, Anthias, Dendronephthya, Tubastrea micrantha, Pseudanthias
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Beautiful South Pacific coral reef, with gorgonian sea fans, schooling anthias fish and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 31312
Species: Anthias, Black sun coral, Dendronephthya soft coral, Gorgonian, Dendronephthya, Gorgonacea, Pseudanthias, Tubastrea micrantha
Location: Fiji

Some References:

WWF International Corals Initiative: Fiji Barrier Reef marine ecoregion. Fiji reef extent, diversity of reef types, ecological significance, and conservation pressures.
South Pacific Commission: Report on visits of the Deep Sea Fisheries Development Project to Fiji. Fiji's broad latitude-longitude setting and the range of island and reef types in the archipelago.
Ganachaud et al.: Southwest Pacific Ocean Circulation and Climate Experiment, Part I. Southwest Pacific circulation context, including the South Equatorial Current and jet structure influenced by Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia.
NOAA Ocean Service: Types of soft coral.
Australian Institute of Marine Science: Corals. General coral biology, colonial polyps, budding, photosymbiosis, and feeding.
Obura and Mangubhai: Coral Reef Biodiversity in the Vatu-i-Ra Seascape in Fiji. Soft-coral growth forms, genera, reef zones, upwelling context, fish and invertebrate community notes, and Vatu-i-Ra habitat descriptions.
van de Water et al.: Host-microbe interactions in octocoral holobionts. Octocoral feeding and symbiosis context.
Davis, Harasti, and Smith: Extension of Dendronephthya australis soft corals in tidal current flows. Dendronephthya feeding ecology, current dependence, and hydroskeleton behavior.
Marine Biology: Extension of Dendronephthya australis soft corals in tidal current flows
NOAA Coral Disease and Health Consortium: Coral Reproduction. Coral reproductive stages, planula larvae, dispersal, settlement, and juvenile development.
Larkin et al.: A glimmer of hope for an endangered temperate soft coral. Soft-coral reproductive strategies in Dendronephthya australis, including sexual reproduction and asexual clonal replication.
FishBase: Pseudanthias squamipinnis. Anthias habitat, aggregation behavior, and zooplankton feeding.
Wildlife Conservation Society Fiji: Namena Marine Reserve.
Wildlife Conservation Society Fiji: Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park.
NAI'A: Liveaboard NAI'A

Spectacularly colorful dendronephthya soft corals on South Pacific reef, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 31322
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Fiji

Closeup view of colorful dendronephthya soft corals, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 34709
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Fiji

Leather coral, Sinularia sp., Fiji.
Image ID: 34711
Species: Sinularia soft coral, Sinularia
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Beautiful South Pacific coral reef, with Plexauridae sea fans, schooling anthias fish and colorful dendronephthya soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 34716
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Gorgonian, Dendronephthya, Gorgonacea, Pseudanthias
Location: Fiji

Colorful Chironephthya soft coral colonies in Fiji, hanging off wall, resembling sea fans or gorgonians.
Image ID: 34718
Species: Chironephthya soft coral, Chironephthya
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Brilliantlly colorful coral reef, with swarms of anthias fishes and soft corals, Fiji.
Image ID: 34722
Species: Anthias, Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya, Pseudanthias
Location: Bligh Waters, Fiji

Closeup view of colorful dendronephthya soft corals, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 34728
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Dendronephthya soft coral detail including polyps and calcium carbonate spicules, Fiji.
Image ID: 34738
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Anthias fishes school in strong currents over a Fijian coral reef, with various hard and soft corals, sea fans and anemones on display. Fiji.
Image ID: 34741
Species: Anthias, Pseudanthias
Location: Fiji

Spectacularly colorful dendronephthya soft corals on South Pacific reef, reaching out into strong ocean currents to capture passing planktonic food, Fiji.
Image ID: 31335
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Nigali Passage, Gau Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji

Red whip coral, Ellisella ceratophyta, Fiji.
Image ID: 34748
Species: Whip coral, Ellisella ceratophyta
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Sinularia flexibilis finger leather soft coral, Fiji.
Image ID: 34755
Species: Sinularia soft coral, Sinularis flexibilis
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Dive Boat Naia, M/V Naia, at anchor off Wakaya Island, Fiji.
Image ID: 31856
Location: Wakaya Island, Fiji

Aerial View of Namena Marine Reserve and Coral Reefs, Namena Island, Fiji.
Image ID: 34686
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Concerning Humpback Whale Fluke Identification and It’s Use in Whale Research

admin — Wed, 06 May 2026 16:45:24 +0000

For researchers, the raised tail of a humpback whale is more than a dramatic moment at the surface. It is an identifying record that can connect one animal’s movements, survival, reproduction, and population history across years and locations. I was introduced to the practice of photographing humpback whale flukes in Hawaii in the 90s as a member of a research team and have continued to photograph flukes (and contribute them to research efforts) whenever the opportunity presents itself. The ones below were taken in 2026 in Southeast Alaska.

Humpback Whale Fluke ID. Perfect view of the ventral surface of a humpback whale's fluke, as the whale raises its fluke just before diving underwater. The white patches, spots, scratches and scalloping along the trailing edge of the fluke make this whale identifiable when it is observed from year to year.
Image ID: 41566
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Humpback whale flukes are one of the most useful natural identification marks in marine mammal science. The underside of each tail is marked by a combination of black-and-white pigmentation, trailing-edge shape, notches, scars, and other features that can be photographed and compared much as a fingerprint is compared in people. The idea is generally credited to the early Southeast Alaska work of Charles Jurasz and the Jurasz family’s Sea Search Ltd.; NOAA Fisheries describes the Juneau-based Jurasz family as likely the first researchers anywhere to notice distinct humpback flukes and use them to document individual whales, while the National Park Service places the start of the Glacier Bay work in 1973 and identifies Jurasz as one of the first to recognize the value of fluke markings. The method was then formalized and spread through early scientific work by researchers including Steven Katona and Hal Whitehead, whose 1981 paper on identifying humpback whales from natural markings helped establish photo-identification as a standard research tool. What began as field observation in a few coastal study areas became a global way to follow animals that otherwise cross political boundaries and disappear into the open ocean for months at a time.

In capture/recapture terms, a usable fluke photograph is the “capture,” and a later photograph of the same whale is the “recapture.” Obviously, the whale is not physically captured; the photograph is the what is captured. When many whales are photographed in one place or season and then some of those same whales are photographed again elsewhere or later, researchers can estimate not only how many whales were seen, but how many were probably missed. That is an important leap: fluke identification turns scattered encounters into population science. NOAA explains that fluke pigmentation, shape, size, and scars are distinctive enough to identify individual humpbacks over time, and the large North Pacific study "SPLASH" used this principle in a formal capture-recapture design. In that project, researchers used more than 18,000 fluke-identification photographs from 2004–2006 to estimate North Pacific abundance at about 21,063 humpbacks after bias correction. The strength of the method is that it can answer questions that ordinary sightings cannot: whether a whale has returned to the same feeding ground, whether it has moved between breeding grounds, whether a female has calved repeatedly, whether survival is changing, and whether a population is actually growing or merely being watched more often.

The scientific value of fluke identification comes from repetition over years and decades. A single fluke photograph may identify one animal; thousands of repeated identifications create life histories, family histories, migration records, and population models. The International Whaling Commission notes that much of what is known about humpbacks has come from photo-identification studies, especially in long-studied feeding grounds such as Alaska and the Gulf of Maine, where some individuals have been monitored for more than 40 years. These records have shown that humpbacks often return to particular feeding areas, that mothers and calves can be followed across years, that breeding and feeding regions are connected by regular migration routes, and that some populations have recovered strongly since commercial whaling. They have also made whale research more individual: animals are no longer only points on a map or counts in a survey, but known whales with ages, reproductive histories, movement records, wounds, recoveries, and sometimes documented deaths. The Center for Coastal Studies describes its Gulf of Maine catalog as containing information on age, sex, relatedness, reproduction, behavior, distribution, and human impacts, which shows how a fluke catalog can become a long-term biological archive.

The largest published concentration of fluke-identification work is now in the North Pacific, especially the central and eastern North Pacific, although important long-running research also exists in the North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere. The modern North Pacific Photo-ID collaboration combined older catalogs, newer research collections, and community-science submissions into a large dataset. In Scientific Reports, Cheeseman and colleagues reported 30,100 individual North Pacific humpbacks documented from 1977 through August 2022, including 27,956 unique individuals in 157,350 encounters during the 2001–2021 study period. The same paper notes that effort was uneven and skewed toward the central and eastern North Pacific, with data gaps in the western North Pacific, remote Aleutian feeding areas, and parts of the Mexican offshore breeding range. Regional catalogs remain essential within that broader picture: Cascadia Research reports more than 7,100 unique humpbacks and nearly 102,000 encounters in its U.S. West Coast catalog through 2022, while Allied Whale reports more than 11,000 individuals in the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog. Globally, Happywhale reports more than 105,000 identified humpback whales, a measure of how large individual identification has become when formal research catalogs and public submissions are connected by automated matching and expert review.

Population size estimates vary because humpbacks are divided into multiple breeding populations, feeding aggregations, management units, and survey regions, and because estimates come from different methods and years. As a broad global figure, NAMMCO summarizes the IUCN estimate at about 135,000 humpback whales worldwide, including roughly 84,000 mature individuals. The North Atlantic is often summarized at least in the tens of thousands, with NAMMCO giving at least about 35,000 and the International Whaling Commission listing regional North Atlantic survey estimates that include a little under 25,000 in the northeast Atlantic and about 12,000 in Canadian feeding-ground surveys. The North Pacific was estimated at more than 21,000 in 2004–2006 by SPLASH, then later work estimated a rise to about 33,488 whales in 2012 followed by a decline to about 26,662 by 2021. In the Southern Hemisphere, the IWC reports strong recovery in many areas and population models predicting more than 96,000 Southern Hemisphere humpbacks in 2015. Those big numbers should not obscure small, vulnerable populations: PLOS ONE research on Arabian Sea humpbacks described a highly isolated, non-migratory population with a mark-recapture estimate of about 82 individuals, with wide uncertainty. NOAA’s current U.S. management framework reflects this uneven recovery: 14 distinct population segments are recognized, with four listed as endangered, one as threatened, and nine not listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Humpback whale fluke raised out of the water before a dive.
Image ID: 41597
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

The state of the research is shifting from hand-matched regional catalogs toward large, collaborative, AI-assisted systems, but the underlying scientific principle is still the same: identify the individual, then ask what its repeated appearances reveal. Manual expertise remains important because image quality, changing scars, calf-to-adult changes, and look-alike flukes can produce errors. The new development is scale. A 2021 Mammalian Biology study described a convolutional neural-network system that reduced image-management time by at least 98 percent and reduced missed-match rates compared with older manual workflows. The North Pacific Photo-ID study reported automated fluke matching accuracy of about 97–99 percent for good- to high-quality images, while still emphasizing review, collaboration, and awareness of effort bias. The newest and most important questions are therefore less about whether flukes can identify whales—that question has been answered—and more about what long-term identifications reveal in a changing ocean. NOAA’s summary of recent Royal Society Open Science work reports that North Pacific humpbacks rose from about 16,875 in 2002 to a peak of 33,488 in 2012, then declined by about 7,000 whales by 2021 after the 2014–2016 marine heatwave disrupted prey availability. Fluke-identification research has helped answer where whales go, how populations recover, how individuals persist, and how mothers reproduce; it is now being used to ask how quickly populations respond to marine heatwaves, prey shifts, entanglement, ship strikes, habitat change, and the uneven pressures of climate change.

Resources:

The Natural History of Courting and Rushing Western Grebes and Clark’s Grebes

admin — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:09:07 +0000

Western Grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark’s Grebes (A. clarkii) are large, colonial diving birds inhabiting open lakes, marsh-edged wetlands, and reservoirs across western North America. They were long treated as color morphs of one species, but studies by Ratti (1979), Nuechterlein (1981), and Storer and Nuechterlein (1985) helped establish that they differ in plumage details, bill color, vocalizations, and courtship behavior, and that they usually mate assortatively. Both species typically breed in mixed colonies, build floating nests anchored in emergent vegetation, and move to larger or ice-free waters outside the breeding season; Western Grebes are generally more widespread and more northern, whereas Clark’s Grebes tend to be relatively more southern in distribution (Wilson et al. 2013; LaPorte, Storer, and Nuechterlein 2020a; LaPorte, Storer, and Nuechterlein 2020b).

Western Grebes rushing on Lake Wohlford, running across the water by slapping their feet rapidly, part of the grebe's elaborate courtship.
Image ID: 41704
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

The famous rushing display is part of a broader pair-formation sequence rather than an isolated behavior. In The Pair-Formation Displays of the Western Grebe, Nuechterlein and Storer (1982) described rushing as the centerpiece of a courtship sequence that can occur between a male and female, between two males, or in competitive groups involving several males and a female. That context shows that rushing is closely tied to mate attraction, mate assessment, and pair bonding. Other work found that unpaired males use advertising calls to attract females (Nuechterlein 1981), that vocal signals are important in mate choice and reproductive isolation (Nuechterlein and Buitron 1998), and that copulation itself usually occurs later on floating nest platforms rather than as part of the rushing display (Hayes and Turner 2017).

Western Grebe, Lake Wohlford.
Image ID: 41544
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Rushing looks extraordinary because the birds suddenly lunge forward, rise almost upright from the water, hold the neck extended and slightly arched, sweep the wings back from the body, and run side by side over the lake surface before dropping back into the water. The best quantitative biomechanical analysis, by Clifton, Hedrick, and Biewener (2015), found stride frequencies of about 6.7 to 10 strides per second, which is roughly 13.3 to 20 footfalls or water slaps per second. Typical rushes lasted about 4 seconds, sometimes up to 7 seconds, and usually covered roughly 5 to 20 meters. That study also showed that the grebes’ lobed feet generate unusually large forces during impact and stroke, with water slap contributing about 30 to 55 percent of the support needed to keep the birds above the surface.

Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 41538
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

There is no single fixed rate at which rushing events are performed because it depends on breeding stage, colony density, and social excitement, but the behavior can be very frequent during peak courtship. Nuechterlein and Storer (1982) reported that when two unpaired birds completed a ratchet-pointing and dip-shaking sequence without interruption, mutual rushing followed in 96 percent of 302 bouts, showing how central the display is to pair formation. Clifton and colleagues (2015) observed that rushing displays at Upper Klamath Lake sometimes exceeded 30 per hour at peak times and could trigger chain reactions among nearby birds. The display continues through much of the breeding season, although it becomes less regular once most birds are paired and focused on nesting. Both Western and Clark’s grebes share this courtship system and the behavior has been described from mixed colonies and staging sites across the western North American range of Aechmophorus; sometimes mixed species will rush together although this is uncommon.

Two Western Grebes Rushing on Lake Wohlford near San Diego. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 41562
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Whether rushing is learned is uncertain. There does not seem to have been an experimental study showing that young grebes learn the motor pattern by watching parents, nor is there evidence that adults actively teach the display. The most cautious assessment of the literature is that rushing is probably an innate species-typical courtship display that is passed on mainly through inherited anatomy, neuromuscular capacity, and the hormonal and social conditions that release the behavior. What may have a learned component is mate recognition rather than the running motion itself: playback and mate-choice studies show that vocalizations are important in pairing (Nuechterlein and Buitron 1998), and a recent hybridization study suggested that errors in sexual imprinting may help explain some mixed pairing between Western and Clark’s grebes (Hayes et al. 2024). At present, while rushing as a courtship and pair-bonding display is widely distributed in both species, there does not seem to be cultural transmission of the display from one generation to the next.

Western Grebe rushing on Lake Wohlford, running across the water by slapping its feet rapidly, part of the grebe's elaborate courtship.
Image ID: 41706
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

References:

Ratti, J. T. 1979. Reproductive Separation and Isolating Mechanisms between Sympatric Dark- and Light-Phase Western Grebes. The Auk 96: 573–586. https://doi.org/10.1093/auk/96.3.573
Nuechterlein, G. L. 1981. Courtship Behavior and Reproductive Isolation between Western Grebe Color Morphs. The Auk 98: 335–349. https://doi.org/10.1093/auk/98.2.335
Nuechterlein, G. L. 1981. Variations and Multiple Functions of the Advertising Display of Western Grebes. Behaviour 76: 289–317. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853981X00121
Nuechterlein, G. L., and R. W. Storer. 1982. The Pair-Formation Displays of the Western Grebe. The Condor 84: 351–369. https://doi.org/10.2307/1367437
Storer, R. W., and G. L. Nuechterlein. 1985. An Analysis of Plumage and Morphological Characters of the Two Color Forms of the Western Grebe (Aechmophorus). The Auk 102: 102–119. https://doi.org/10.2307/4086826
Nuechterlein, G. L., and R. W. Storer. 1989. Mate Feeding by Western and Clark’s Grebes. The Condor 91: 37–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/1368146
Nuechterlein, G. L., and D. Buitron. 1998. Interspecific Mate Choice by Late-Courting Male Western Grebes. Behavioral Ecology 9: 313–321. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/9.3.313
Clifton, G. T., T. L. Hedrick, and A. A. Biewener. 2015. Western and Clark’s Grebes Use Novel Strategies for Running on Water. Journal of Experimental Biology 218: 1235–1243. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.118745
Hayes, F. E., and D. G. Turner. 2017. Copulation Behavior in Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark’s Grebe (A. clarkii). Waterbirds 40: 168–172. https://doi.org/10.1675/063.040.0209
Wilson, S., E. M. Anderson, A. S. G. Wilson, D. F. Bertram, and P. Arcese. 2013. Citizen Science Reveals an Extensive Shift in the Winter Distribution of Migratory Western Grebes. PLOS ONE 8: e65408. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065408
LaPorte, N., R. W. Storer, and G. L. Nuechterlein. 2020a. Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.wesgre.01
LaPorte, N., R. W. Storer, and G. L. Nuechterlein. 2020b. Clark’s Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii), version 1.0. In Birds of the World. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.clagre.01
Hayes, F. E., B. J. McIntosh, D. G. Turner, and D. E. Weidemann. 2024. Mate Choice and Hybridization in the Western Grebe and Clark’s Grebe: Tests of the Scarcity of Mates and Sexual Selection Hypotheses. Western North American Naturalist 84: 335–341. https://doi.org/10.3398/064.084.0303

Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 41545
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 41546
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 41547
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Two Western Grebes Rushing on Lake Wohlford near San Diego. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 41564
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes rushing on Lake Wohlford, running across the water by slapping their feet rapidly, part of the grebe's elaborate courtship.
Image ID: 41709
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes rushing on Lake Wohlford, running across the water by slapping their feet rapidly, part of the grebe's elaborate courtship.
Image ID: 41710
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Photographing Water Birds at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 03:20:32 +0000

I have made several trips in the last few months to Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve in the city of Santee, east of San Diego, to photograph the birds there. In the winter there are many different waterfowl, the most appealing (to me) being the various species of ducks. Some are surprisingly tame for their species, such as the cinnamon teal, while others like the Northern shoveler remain as aloof as they are in other places. This string of lakes is a surprisingly nice sanctuary in a suburban area, great for fishing with the kids, walking the dog, picnicking or, obviously, photographing birds. These are some of my favorites recently. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Canada Geese in flight, Branta canadensis, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41481
Species: Canada goose, Branta canadensis
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Mallard in flight, Anas platyrhynchos, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41488
Species: Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Ring-necked duck, male, Aythya collaris, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41497
Species: Ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Cinnamon Teal in flight.
Image ID: 41459
Species: Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera.
Image ID: 41455
Species: Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera.
Image ID: 41456
Species: Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus.
Image ID: 41445
Species: Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Northern pintail, Anas acuta, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41482
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41483
Species: Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Ring-necked duck, male, Aythya collaris, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41485
Species: Ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41486
Species: Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Double-crested cormorant in flight, Phalacrocorax auritus, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41489
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41490
Species: Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Mallard in flight, female, Anas platyrhynchos, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41492
Species: Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Ring-necked duck, male, Aythya collaris, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41494
Species: Ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Mallard wing flap showing speculum, iridescent blue with white edges, Anas platyrhynchos, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41495
Species: Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris, Santee Lakes.
Image ID: 41503
Species: Ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus.
Image ID: 41442
Species: Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Northern Shoveler, female, Anas clypeata.
Image ID: 41446
Location: Santee Lakes, California

Northern Shoveler, male, Anas clypeata.
Image ID: 41439

Aerial Photos of Scott’s Head on the Island of Dominica

admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:17:25 +0000

I was recently on the beautiful island of Dominica photographing sperm whales. Tracy meet me afterward and we spend a week relaxing at the south end of the island, snorkeling and enjoying the waterfalls and hot springs. I flew Superfly to get some images of Scott’s Head, the scenic south point of the island. It is actually part of the rim of an ancient volcanic caldera most of which is underwater. We stayed at Jungle Bay situated high on the bluff over the ocean and the small town of Soufriere, and enjoyed spectacular views each evening at dinner. Dominica was great and we are already planning a return. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Scotts Head aerial panoramic photo. Dominica is referred to as the Nature Island for its lush forests and spectacular terrain.
Image ID: 41476
Location: Dominica

Scotts Head aerial panoramic photo. Dominica is referred to as the Nature Island for its lush forests and spectacular terrain.
Image ID: 41475
Location: Dominica

Soufriere and Jungle Bay, aerial photo.
Image ID: 41479
Location: Dominica

A Surprise Winter Wildflower Bloom in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 23:44:36 +0000

The Winter of 2025/2026 brought a little surprise – a very nice wildflower bloom in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. When they occur – which is not every year — wildflower blooms in Anza Borrego typically peak in March. However, this year we had thick wildflowers blooming in mid-December and healthy plants still going strong at the end of January. I attribute this to a series of warm spells interspersed with a good amount of rain at just the right intervals. When sunlight and rains line up, the seeds say “Go!” and the bloom starts even if it is not the “normal” time. I found that the only really photographic swaths of flowers were found in the usual place (Coyote Canyon). These images were taken in December 2025 and again in February 2026. In case you are wondering, this is not a superbloom, just a bloom. Cheers and thanks for looking!

Winter Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road. Sunrise light barely illuminating the flowers.
Image ID: 41504
Species: Dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides

Winter Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road. Sunrise light barely illuminating the flowers.
Image ID: 41505
Species: Dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides

Winter Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road. Sunrise light barely illuminating the flowers.
Image ID: 41533
Species: Dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides

Natural History Photography – My Favorite Photos of 2025

admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 05:31:41 +0000

2025 presented Tracy and me with a variety of highs and lows — mostly highs. We travelled quite a bit with family and friends. I did a little more travel on my own beyond that. All of which was wonderful. However, hanging over everything this year was the passing of my father, Coleman Colla, in September after 89 years of life. He had a long successful career in aerospace and was active in his Los Angeles community. He had a keen intellect and was one of the very smartest people I have known. He lived a robust life full of family and friends, especially the last few decades. During the holidays he always found time to discuss with me my annual end-of-year favorite photos. I would relate to him backstories about the images, what I got lucky with and what I missed. He would ask how the pictures were made, how big the animals were and what I was feeling seeing them. Well Dad, here are my favorites … this is the first year I will miss sharing them with you.

This is the 19th year I have done an annual photography retrospective. My favorite images of the past year are below, roughly in chronological order. My goal for any one year is always to shoot 3-4 world-class images and 10-15 portfolio-quality images. If you like these feel free to check out previous years’ favorites as well: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007. Cheers and thanks for looking!

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter breeding plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40806
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

Brandt's Cormorant Spreading Wings to Land on sea cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Image ID: 40813
Location: La Jolla, California

A California sea lions leap high out of the water, jumping clear of a wave while bodysurfing at Boomer Beach in La Jolla.
Image ID: 40835
Location: La Jolla, California

Extreme closeup view of a Western Grebe as it rushes, running across the water as part of an elaborate courtship behavior.
Image ID: 40845
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Two Western Grebes Walk on Water. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 40887
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Humpback Whale Raising Fluke Before Diving in Southeast Alaska.
Image ID: 40949
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Sitka Sound, Alaska

Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) Offshore of San Diego.
Image ID: 40982
Species: Ocean sunfish, Mola mola
Location: San Diego, California

Peregrine Falcon attacking brown pelican while in flight.
Image ID: 40985
Species: Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus
Location: Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego, California

Royal Tern in flight, adult breeding plumage with black head cap, La Jolla.
Image ID: 41002
Species: Royal tern, Sterna maxima, Thalasseus maximus
Location: La Jolla, California

Tracy swimming alongside beautiful Dendronephthya soft corals displaying incredible color on a Fijian coral reef. Soft corals swell when the current is running and extend outward to capture passing plankton and food.
Image ID: 41021
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Black sun coral, Dendronephthya, Tubastrea micrantha
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Photographer captures a spectacular display of Dendronephthya Soft Coral on the wall of the deepwater pinnacle Mount Mutiny in the Bligh Waters of Fiji.
Image ID: 41024
Species: Dendronephthya soft coral, Dendronephthya
Location: Fiji

Tracy peers through a dense school of purple anthias fishes and sea fans in a natural coral arch at the dive site Kansas. Beautiful Fijian Coral Reef with a Mix of Hard and Colorful Soft Corals.
Image ID: 41035
Species: Anthias, Pseudanthias
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Aerial View of Namena Marine Reserve and Coral Reefs, Namena Island, Fiji.
Image ID: 41049
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Aerial View of the extensive coral reefs offshore of Rakiraki, Fiji Islands.
Image ID: 41083
Location: Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Portrait of an adult Southern Right Whale Underwater, Eubalaena australis, hovering over sand bottom on Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41175
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Portrait of Mother and Calf Southern Right Whales Underwater, Eubalaena australis, hovering over sand bottom on Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41183
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Closeup underwater view of a Southern right whale eyeball, Eubalaena australis. Whale lice can be seen clearly in the folds and crevices around the whales eye and lip groove. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41190
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial photo of the Puerto Piramides headlands, part of Golfo Nuevo on Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41192
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Copulating Southern Right Whales, aerial photo. The male is upside down (belly up) and trying to copulate with the female who is also belly up and being evasive of the male. The female's calf is at lower right. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41234
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial photo of white Southern Right Whale calf with its mother. The mother is gray in color, rather than dark black, since she was a white calf herself and gradually darkened to gray as she matured. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). The white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically white calves become much darker as they mature but will still be lighter than normal even as adults. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41260
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Humpback Whale Breaching near Tahiti and Moorea, French Polynesia.
Image ID: 41331
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

Solitary inquisitive humpback whale underwater near the island of Moorea, French Polynesia.
Image ID: 41335
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

Solitary inquisitive humpback whale underwater near the island of Moorea, French Polynesia.
Image ID: 41336
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Tahiti, French Polynesia, France

Humpback mother and calf swimming together underwater, Moorea Island, French Polynesia.
Image ID: 41341
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

Aerial Panorama of the Barrier Reef around Moorea Island, French Polynesia. The outer reef slope is seen adjacent to deep blue oceanic water with white waves breaking against the reef edge. Next, a wide shallow reef flat occurs dotted with coral bommies. Inside of that, a shallow protected lagoon is formed against the island. Tall, rugged, eroded mountains are seen hinting at the age of the ancient volcano that originally formed the island and that is now sinking back down, leaving the encircling reef behind.
Image ID: 41358
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

March 14, 2025, total lunar eclipse from my backyard

Iceland with Mom and her entire progeny, July

Iceland pony

Glacier visit, Iceland

Fiji in August, thank you Adriana and Naia!

Argentina in September, thank you Adriana, Hector, Kike and Jorge!

Moorea in October, thank you Pierre and Temana!

Bass Lake, October

Aerial Photos of Mating and Courtship Among Southern Right Whales at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina

admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 23:29:56 +0000

Each winter and spring, Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis) gather along Argentina’s Península Valdés, particularly in the calm, protected waters of Golfo Nuevo and Golfo San José. From about June through November, these gulfs serve as breeding and nursery grounds where adults, juveniles, and mothers with calves congregate. The whales are drawn by the region’s sheltered bays, which provide ideal conditions for mating, calving, and nursing before they return to feeding grounds farther south in summer.

Courtship is often dramatic and highly social. Groups of up to a dozen males—sometimes even more—will compete to mate with a single receptive female in what are known as surface-active groups. The males circle, nudge, roll, and attempt to position themselves alongside the female while she tries to control access by rolling onto her back or diving. There is no violent combat; rather, competition occurs through endurance, maneuvering, and persistence. The males’ genital anatomy plays a key role in this system—southern right whale males possess one of the largest penises in the animal kingdom, reaching about 2 to 3 meters (6 to 10 feet) in length. This size advantage likely evolved to improve sperm competition, since multiple males may mate with the same female within a short time.

Mating occurs at or just below the surface, often in brief but repeated encounters. Gestation lasts roughly one year, after which females give birth to a single calf, usually about 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) long at birth. Mothers remain with their calves for a full year of nursing before resuming breeding activities. Most females follow a three-year reproductive cycle: one year pregnant, one year nursing, and one resting or preparing to breed again. This rhythm, together with the whales’ strong site fidelity to Valdés Peninsula, makes the area one of the world’s most reliable and important breeding habitats for southern right whales.

Mother and calf southern right whales are seen here as part of a larger courtship group, with adult males interested in mating with the mother. The calf has no choice but to stay by her mother's side during the courting activities.
Image ID: 38381
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Copulating Southern Right Whales, aerial photo. The male is upside down (belly up) and trying to copulate with the female who is also belly up and being evasive of the male. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41185
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial photo of Eight Southern Right Whales in a large Courtship / Mating Group at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. Eubalaena australis. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41187
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Courting group of southern right whales, aerial photo. Mating may occur as a result of this courting and social behavior. The white whale seen here is a serious player named El Copulador (the copulator) and is often seen in mating and courting groups of southern right whales at Peninsula Valdes. His light coloration is an indication that he was a white calf, but he did not darken as he aged in the way most white southern right whale calves do.
Image ID: 38356
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Mating pair of Southern Right Whales, aerial photo. In this photo, the male is grasping the female with one of his pectoral fins as a prelude to copulation. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41197
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Copulating Southern Right Whales, aerial photo. The female is in the middle. The male at bottom is copulating with her, while the second male at top is trying to do so as well. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41212
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Copulating Pair of Southern Right Whales, aerial photo.The male is at left, female at right, and the female's calf at upper right. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41219
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Five southern right whales in courtship group, aerial photo, Eubalaena australis, Argentina.
Image ID: 35969
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Courting group of southern right whales, aerial photo. Mating may occur as a result of this courting and social behavior.
Image ID: 38299
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Copulating Southern Right Whales, aerial photo. The male is upside down (belly up) and trying to copulate with the female who is also belly up and being evasive of the male. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41266
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial photo of Courtship / Mating Group of Southern Right Whales at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. Eubalaena australis. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41267
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Mating pair of Southern Right Whales, aerial photo. In this photo, the male is grasping the female with one of his pectoral fins as a prelude to copulation. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41297
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial photo of Courtship / Mating Group of Southern Right Whales at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. Eubalaena australis. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41324
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial Photos of the Coral Reefs of Fiji

admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:23:56 +0000

Beneath Fiji’s clear waters lies a vibrant maze of coral reefs built by tiny coral polyps. Hard corals, also known as stony corals, act as reef architects secreting calcium carbonate skeletons that fuse into massive limestone frameworks over centuries. Intertwined with these sturdy builders are soft corals, flexible flower-like organisms that sway with the currents and give Fiji its nickname “Soft Coral Capital of the World.” Soft corals don’t build the reef’s hard structure, but they adorn it with brilliant hues of pink, purple, and orange, creating a living garden. Together, Fiji’s hard and soft corals form a rich underwater ecosystem – essentially a rainforest of the sea teeming with life.

Fiji’s reefs bustle with marine life of every shape and color. Bright reef fish such as clownfish, butterflyfish, and parrotfish weave through coral branches, while smaller creatures like crabs, shrimp, and sea stars hide in crevices and giant clams nestle within the reef. Larger animals like reef sharks, rays, and sea turtles patrol these coral gardens, all relying on the reef for food and shelter. Every species plays a part in this underwater community – for instance, herbivores like parrotfish and turtles graze on algae that might otherwise smother the corals. This entire ecosystem depends on just the right conditions. Corals need warm, clear water around 23–29°C (73–84°F), bright sunlight, and unpolluted seas to thrive.

Unfortunately, this spectacular ecosystem now faces serious threats from climate change, which is driving ocean temperatures upward and pushing corals beyond their comfort zone. Even a slight temperature rise can cause corals to bleach – in this stressed state they expel the symbiotic algae that feed them and turn ghostly white. Bleached corals are weak and may die if the heat persists – a fate already witnessed in Fiji’s reefs during recent marine heatwaves. Adding to the danger, the ocean is becoming more acidic due to higher carbon dioxide levels, which weakens corals’ ability to rebuild their skeletons. If ocean temperatures continue to rise unchecked, Fiji’s coral reefs could deteriorate dramatically – losing their vibrant corals along with the multitudes of fish and other creatures that depend on them. Protecting these reefs will require urgent global action to curb climate change, so that Fiji’s underwater paradise can endure for generations to come.

Aerial View of Namena Marine Reserve and Coral Reefs, Namena Island, Fiji.
Image ID: 34680
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Aerial View of Coral Reefs around Wakaya Island, Fiji.
Image ID: 41030
Location: Wakaya Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji

Aerial View of the extensive coral reefs offshore of Rakiraki, Fiji Islands.
Image ID: 41041
Location: Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Aerial View of Vatu-i-Ra Coral Seascape, Fiji.
Image ID: 34681
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Aerial View of Vatu-i-Ra Coral Seascape, Fiji.
Image ID: 34688
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Gau Island, Lomaiviti Archipelago, Fiji

Aerial View of Namena Marine Reserve and Coral Reefs, Namena Island, Fiji.
Image ID: 41049
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Aerial View of the extensive coral reefs offshore of Rakiraki, Fiji Islands.
Image ID: 41083
Location: Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Aerial View of Namena Marine Reserve and Coral Reefs, Namena Island, Fiji.
Image ID: 34693
Location: Namena Marine Reserve, Namena Island, Fiji

Aerial view of Mount Mutiny, a spectacular deepwater coral bommie in the Bligh Waters of Fiji.
Image ID: 41138
Location: Vatu I Ra Passage, Bligh Waters, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Southern Right Whales on the Peninsula Valdes, Argentina, 2025

admin — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 22:46:56 +0000

I made another visit to Peninsula Valdes, on the southern coast of Argentina, to photograph Southern Right Whales in September. I spent 16 days there with 9 of them on the water. We had pretty good weather and didn’t miss any of our scheduled water days but did have to use some weather days at times. The whales were superb as always. Indeed, while whale counts of recent years have been about 1500 along the Peninsula Valdes coast, this year there were over 2400! That uptick in census is very intriguing and while each of us had ideas about what might be driving it we will have to wait until the research community has assembled their data for the year before concluding what might have driving the large increase in numbers.

Every year is different. This year we had several intense courtship groups, more whale copulation than I think I have seen in the past, and quite a few sessions of prolonged breaching. As far as underwater photographs go, I wanted to produce images that are different than what I have made in the past but was unsure ahead of time how to do that. Once in Puerto Piramides though I realized the water this year would dictate the strategy: focus only on the most inquisitive whales. Southern right whales are remarkable in their willingness to be in close proximity to boats and divers. They are usually (but not always!) about as docile and gentle in the water as an animal of that size — 55′ long (17 m) and 85 ton (80,000 kg) — can be. So provided it was safe I held my ground and let the animals come close both at the surface and on the bottom. That’s really no different than in the past but this year I was more conscious about it. I’m happy with the images, a small selection of which I’ve included below. (To see all of this years images click here.) I was trying for variety.

As always I am deeply indebted to Hector Casin who, as representive of the Government of Argentina as well as a senior ranger in the park of Peninsula Valdes, oversaw all of our activities, offered seasoned advice about the whales and weather, and helped us in countless ways to be successful. Adriana Basques, who handles all the logistics, planning and team building, once again put together a superb group of photographers with a very international flavor this year: China, Brazil, Mexico, the United States and of course the crew in Argentina. As he has in the past, Jorge Perversi captained our boat at all times and proved instrumental in selecting which whales to focus upon among the many we would see each day. Renzo Natale of of Goos Ballenas (diving services) handled dive safety and was of great help both in water and on the boat, an exhausting feat given the cold weather and even colder water. I was fortunate to be with such a special group of people who shared of love of whales and a desire to produce compelling images of them.

Breaching Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis, Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41176
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

South American Tern in flight, Sterna hirundinacea, Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes, Chubut, Argentina. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41189
Species: South American Tern, Sterna hirundinacea
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Portrait of an adult Southern Right Whale Underwater, Eubalaena australis, hovering over sand bottom on Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41177
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Breaching Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis, Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41178
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Southern right whale underwater, Eubalaena australis, in Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41179
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial photo of white Southern Right Whale calf with its mother. The mother is gray in color, rather than dark black, since she was a white calf herself and gradually darkened to gray as she matured. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). The white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically white calves become much darker as they mature but will still be lighter than normal even as adults. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41180
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Aerial photo of Southern Right Whale Mother and Calf. Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41181
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41184
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Southern Right Whale with fluke raised out of the water with the famous "pyramid" of Puerto Piramides in the distance. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41188
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Mating pair of Southern Right Whales, aerial photo. In this photo, the male is grasping the female with one of his pectoral fins as a prelude to copulation. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41196
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Mother and calf southern right whales underwater. The calf swims close to its mother but, if the mother is accepting, the calf will be allowed to come close to the photographer and check him out. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41199
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

Breaching Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis, Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes, Argentina. By permission of the Government of Argentina, Chubut, permit # 51 / 2025-SsCyA.
Image ID: 41202
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina

2025 Song of the Humpback Whale, Recorded Underwater in French Polynesia

admin — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 01:21:20 +0000

I was able to spend time again this fall on the island of Moorea, near Tahiti in French Polynesia, to observe humpback whales. While photography was the main objective, I was on the lookout for opportunities to record whalesong as well. As in 2024, I am indebted to Pierre Serreli for his guidance and help in the water with the whales as well as Captain Temana for his excellent boat handling and assistance. We were hampered by high winds many days but Pierre and Temana worked hard to find our own water and with patience we found plenty of cooperative and interested whales including several singers.

Since the worldwide humpback whalesong evolves from year to year it is worth recording the song for posterity each season. We had good success with 2024’s Humpback Whale Song but I was hopeful we could record an even cleaner rendition this year. I am neither a sound engineer nor particularly knowledgeable about underwater acoustics. I simply want to obtain a clear, accurate and lengthy record I can share with the world. Finding ideal conditions to record humpback whalesong is challenging: solitude is necessary (so that noise from passing boats does not disturb the whale or the recording) as is agreeable weather. We don’t really need clean water since the objective is not to photograph the whale but it is nice to be able to at least see the whale as it hovers in the water column singing. However, finding a singer is the principal challenge since they tend to be solitary and are always underwater for long periods of time. We had a fantastic singer on our first day this season but high winds and swell meant the hydrophone was not stationary in the water so there was some noise in the recording. Later in the week we found a cooperative singer in relatively calm water with no one else around and I made the recording I was hoping for over the course of about 90 minutes. I made some tweaks from my in-water technique of last year and I think the resulting recording this year has a better signal-to-noise ratio and virtually no splashing or swimming noises. This recording captures the greater part of three successive song cycles, with some repeated patterns clearly evident if you listen to the entirety of it. There are many interesting passages but I think my favorite begins about 08:17 – check it out! (The same passage is repeated almost perfectly at 23:40.)

Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Phillip Colla · Song of the Humpback Whale, Recorded Live Underwater in French Polynesia in 2025

Below is what a section of the song looks like. Some of the patterns become very recognizable when viewed in software such as Audacity rather than heard. The colorful tracks are a view of the frequency spectrum (which I don’t find particularly useful) while the purple tracks below each spectrum are the waveforms. In this case, at the passage starting about 08:05, we see a transition from “burps” (of which there are five or six, each followed by a small sound) into two long series of rapid “chirps”. There is a small amount of island reverb between the chirp passages.

Tracy and Phil Go Diving on the Nai’a

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 22:48:05 +0000

Tracy and a lush display of anthias fishes and Dendronephthya soft corals all energized by a strong current. Perfect Fiji.

It had been a long time since Tracy and I were SCUBA diving together and I had not been on the wonderful Nai’a liveaboard boat in Fiji for a few years. So when our friend Adriana invited us to join her group for a Nai’a 10-day we jumped at the chance, mostly so that I would have a chance to dive with my better half after way too long. Adriana’s was a very fun and diverse group from China, Brazil, the UK and the US plus Emry of whom nobody is sure what country he is in these days. Tracy is more selective about her diving than me avoiding cold water, poor visibility and subpar boats or resorts. But she was keenly aware the Nai’a is perhaps my favorite liveaboard anywhere in the world. Island-hopping all-star dive locations in Fiji after no tropical diving in a while sounded pretty good to both of us. We locked in the dates on our calendar two years out and this past August off we went. A flight to Nadi and a drive to the Rakiraki peninsula let us spend a few days at Volivoli warming up and getting used to the time change. At Volivoli we dove the Vatu-i-ra reefs one day but the boats were constrained to reefs closer to shore by wind the second day. The resort itself was quite comfortable with great staff, fast boats and delicious food. Lots of Aussies as one would imagine. I plan to stay there again, especially now that Wananavu is no more making Volivoli the only game in town if you want to reach the spectacular Vatu-i-ra reefs.

Our dinner view from Volivoli.

One of the locals.

Sunrise from our lanai looking out from the Rakiraki peninsula.

Setting up the dive boats after breakfast. We’d be diving in 30-60 minutes.

Rakiraki Peninsula, with Volivoli and one of its boats front and center.

Reefs near Rakiraki Peninsula.

Hard corals near Volivoli.

Soft corals and anthias come to life even with a little current, near Volivoli.

After four days at Volivoli it was time to return to Nadi and board the Nai’a. Soon our hosts Chris and Clau and the incredible crew had us on our way. We woke up the next morning to begin nine great days of diving the best spots in the Bligh Waters. Tracy was mostly looking for different tropical fishes, coral types and critters while I was photographing the reef scenery as usual. We had a little wind but it did not impede our diving or crossings. We managed a full three days at Vatu-i-ra, two at Namena and one at the seamounts so in my estimation the trip was a resounding success!

Nai’a anchored at Namena Island.

Nai’a anchored at Mount Mutiny, a deepwater sea mount famous for incredible displays of Chironephthya soft corals.

Nai’a anchored at E-6, another deepwater sea mount known for its large swim-through grotto replete with huge gorgonians.

Tracy and Chironephthya soft corals on Mount Mutiny.

Tracy and Chironephthya and Dendronephthya soft corals on Mount Mutiny.

Clark at Mount Mutiny.

Adriana at Mount Mutiny.

Tracy at Mount Mutiny.

I forced myself to work with a single focal length for the entire trip, something I used to do 30 years ago with a Nikonos but rarely do any more. So 15mm was it for me for this trip. I briefly thought about setting up with 3 or 4 strobes as several photographers I admire do to better light the reef. But I have not been shooting underwater much this year and after considering how I would need to seek out fast-moving water for fish explosions I decided to keep the strobe count down to a modest two. I do not bring a computer on dive trips or review my images beyond a check on the camera’s LCD – a little risky perhaps since its hard to know if I am making any systematic mistakes. But I’m not distracted from hanging out with friends, swapping dive stories or having second dessert. So, the computer stayed home and I made double sure not to misplace any of my un-backed-up memory cards. It worked out.

Some of the cameras.

One of Chris’ excellent site maps.

Nitrox log.

Nai’a at Namena Island.

Nai’a anchored to dive Namena Marine Reserve.

Namena Marine Reserve.

Huge and oddly shaped Dendronephthya cluster at Namena Marine Reserve.

Tracy peering through a swarm of anthias at one of the Kansas arches, Namena Marine Reserve.

Sea fan and anthias swarm, Namena Marine Reserve.

Sunset on the Nai’a, Namena Island

Wakaya Island.

Dendronephthya soft coral, Wakaya Island.

Sea fans and anthias, Wakaya Island.

Reef manta ray, Wakaya Island.

Dendronephthya and anthias, Wakaya Island.

Emry editing images.

Greg and Chris pondering dive site details.

Nai’a anchored amid Vatu-i-ra reef complex.

Tracy diving Vatu-i-ra.

Sea-fan-scape, Vatu-i-ra.

Dendronephthya soft coral, Vatu-i-ra.

Anthias explosion, Vatu-i-ra.

Soft coral study, Vatu-i-ra.

Hard coral study, Vatu-i-ra.

Coleman Park Colla (1935-2025), Obituary

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:00:35 +0000

The family of Coleman Park Colla wishes to announce his passing on September 3, 2025.

Coleman was born on December 24, 1935, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Stanley Albert Colla and Alice Adele Colla. He spent his childhood in Oakmont (now Haverford), Pennsylvania, where his grandparents and cousins lived nearby, and enjoyed summer months on the New Jersey shore with them. In 1949, his family moved to London, England, where his father’s company was helping with post-war reconstruction.

Upon returning to the United States in 1950, his family relocated to Buffalo, New York, where Coleman enrolled at the Nichols School. He excelled in school, particularly in math and science, and graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 1954. In his junior year, he was initiated into the secret society, Amun Ra. After high school, Coleman followed in his father’s footsteps by entering Dartmouth College, where he majored in Engineering. He joined the Theta Delta Chi fraternity and was elected president of it in his senior year. He was also elected to Casque and Gauntlet, a senior honor society. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with the Class of 1958.

While at Dartmouth, Coleman nurtured his love of the outdoors by joining the Dartmouth Outing Club, the oldest such collegiate organization in the country. As an upperclassman, he led freshman trips that introduced new students to Dartmouth’s outdoor surroundings, and he helped lead the building of Winter Carnival snow sculptures in the center of campus.

Coleman undertook a fifth year at Dartmouth during which he earned an MS in electrical engineering and was, again, the top student in his class. Upon graduating, Coleman drove across the country with a classmate to accept his first full-time job at Hughes Aircraft in California.

In 1961, Coleman married Leslie Collins, a native of Pasadena who had gone to Smith College. Coleman and Leslie lived together briefly in Orange County before moving to Los Angeles in 1962 to pursue a job opportunity at IBM. Soon thereafter, they relocated to Pasadena and gave birth to Phillip, the first of their children. Another son, Elliott, followed in 1965, and a daughter, Ashley, in 1970.

Coleman left IBM to join Standard Computer, a start-up company in Orange County and the family relocated to Newport Beach in 1967. After Standard Computer closed in 1970, Coleman worked at other companies before accepting a position at Rockwell International, where he worked almost continuously for the next three decades. Along the way, Coleman earned an MBA from Cal State Fullerton.

Coleman and Leslie divorced in 1981. In 1986, Coleman married Nadine Antin Rubin and later converted to Judaism, which he embraced wholeheartedly. Together, Coleman and Nadine lived in Studio City and Westlake Village before settling down in Park La Brea, the post-war Wilshire District development where Coleman and Nadine flourished. There, Coleman volunteered at a local Jewish food bank, attended services at a local synagogue, managed the community garden for the housing project, and published a delightful blog known as Coleman’s Mental Meanderings. Coleman was a voracious reader, an aficionado of Yiddish, and fan of the New York Yankees. He loved movies, listening to the sound of rain, and sharing meals with friends and family. He was also a serious student of the Torah, and attended multiple weekly drashes taught by Los Angeles’s most learned rabbis.

Coleman was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Nadine Antin-Colla; his three children and their spouses (Phillip and Tracy Colla, Elliott Colla and Nadia Mahdi, and Ashley and Neil Hafer); three stepsons, a spouse, and a partner, Adam Rubin, Matthew Rubin and Amy Kane, and Daniel Rubin and Christina Ioannou; as well as ten grandchildren (Amanda, Sarah, Chelsea, Lindsey, Zoey, Clara, Lina, Elior, Na’amah, and Asa). He is also survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Stanley and Judith Colla, and his cousin, Ada Claire King.

Coleman is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.

Authored by Stan Colla, brother of Coleman, of Hanover, New Hampshire and Elliott Colla, son of Coleman, of Washington, D.C.

When Clark’s Grebes and Western Grebes Walk on Water – The Courtship Behavior of Rushing Grebes

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 00:33:43 +0000

I am making a concerted effort this spring to photograph the rushing behavior of Clark’s Grebes (Aechmophorus clarkii) and Western Grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis). I have seen plenty of grebes “walking on water” (rushing) as part of their elaborate array of courtship behaviors and have wanted to produce really top quality images of this spectacular behavior. In particular, this year I am trying to make uncropped** highly-detailed images of fully upright grebes rushing side-by-side perfectly lit by sun at my back as well as in silhouette with the sun illuminating all the droplets of water from behind. I want good images illustrating the “dip-shaking” and “ratchet-pointing” behaviors the bird pairs usually exhibit in association with rushing. And I want top-quality images of mixed-species rushes in which a Western Grebe and a Clark’s Grebe pair off and rush together even though they are technically different species (albeit quite similar and occasionally interbreeding).

**I will add that one of the challenges here is self-imposed: I do not crop my images much. This is a disadvantage if I compare my images to others as much bird photography is cropped severely in order to make the subject large in the frame. I have a different approach and prefer to produce richly detailed high-resolution images suitable for big printing or display. Severe cropping also lessens the publication potential of the image, not a concern to most photographers in this day of dwindling magazine and calendar markets but I still pursue editorial publication of my work and have to keep that in mind. The result is that I need to hand-hold a giant lens on a small boat and wait for those occasions, sometimes few, when the behavior for which I am looking occurs close enough to my boat that it fills the frame of the camera naturally.

Extreme closeup view of a Western Grebe as it rushes, running across the water as part of an elaborate courtship behavior.
Image ID: 40841
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

When grebes “walk on water” it is known as “rushing”. Roughly speaking (I am not a bird expert or wildlife biologist), rushing among grebes is a courtship behavior, observed early in a breeding season when solitary grebes are seeking a mate as well as between established nesting pairs as the season continues. My belief is that there is a competitive element to it as if two grebes are attempting to impress one another or prove their prowess to a prospective mate while competing with a group of courting candidates. When grebes rush, they typically first meet and execute “dip-shaking” and/or “ratchet-pointing”. Both of these behaviors occur with the birds facing one another, sometimes so close that their beaks nearly touch. Dip-shaking involves one bird dipping its beak or head into the water then lifting it out of the water and shaking it, throwing water about. One bird observes the other dip-shaking, then the roles are reversed. Ratchet-pointing involves both birds assuming a very low posture in the water, pointing their beaks at one another and appearing to look each other in the eye, perhaps raising their crests and often emitting a ratchet-like vocalization. Several rounds of dip-shaking and ratchet-pointing may occur, each lasting a few seconds. It seems to me the birds are communicating something and in the process deciding whether they will rush or not.

Clark's Grebes Dip Shaking, a courtship behavior in which the grebes face each other and alternate dipping their beaks in the water and shaking their head, tossing water into the air. Coupled with ratchet-pointing, several rounds of dip-shaking are often an immediate precursor to rushing.
Image ID: 40888
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Clark's Grebes Ratchet Pointing, a courtship behavior in which the grebes assume a low facing position in the water, point beaks at one another and emit a ratchet-like sound. Coupled with dip-shaking, several rounds of ratchet pointing is often an immediate precursor to rushing.
Image ID: 40891
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes Ratchet Pointing, a courtship behavior in which the grebes assume a low facing position in the water, point beaks at one another and emit a ratchet-like sound. Coupled with dip-shaking, several rounds of ratchet pointing is often an immediate precursor to rushing.
Image ID: 40893
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

The prelude behaviors of ratchet-pointing and dip-shaking serve as “tells” that a rush may be imminent. Rushing doesn’t always occur — sometimes the birds simply pair off and swim calmly away after ratchet-pointing. But when they do rush, it usually follows some incarnation of those two prelude activities. When they suddenly erupt from the water into a rush, they synchronously propel themselves forward and up with an extremely rapid beat of their webbed feet, up to 20 beats per second. Side-by-side they run across the water for as long as 6-7 seconds and 60 feet (20m) before settling back down into the water.

One can watch grebes and will surely, eventually, learn to hear the vocalizations and spot ratchet-pointing and dip-shaking. I am however rather slow when it comes to birds so I sought help, spending several mornings out on the lakes near my home in San Diego over the past few years with Brian Caldwell. Brian is a skilled and fun professional guide and photographer who lives near Lake Hodges and has been studying the natural history of these grebes for many years. He is also highly knowledgable about the environmental issues, especially the topic of water use in San Diego’s reservoirs, a surprisingly complex subject, that impact the grebes and their ability to nest and rear young. If you want to photograph these birds and have never done so, Brian can improve your odds of success immensely. In addition to leaning on Brian’s guiding, I have spent quite a few mornings alone in a small boat looking for glassy water, good early light and courting birds in an effort to produce good images. It’s a tranquil way to start the day. Here are some of my favorites of this year’s efforts. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Two Western Grebes in a Spectacular Rush Across the Surface of Lake Wohlford. Rushing is a courtship behavior among grebes and requires the aquatic birds to step as rapidly as 20 beats per second to walk across water in this way. Simply amazing.
Image ID: 40866
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Clark's Grebes rushing side by side, a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run on the surface of the water while slapping their feet up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 40842
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

An unusual mixed-species pair of grebes rushing, Western Grebe on left and Clark's Grebe on right. In this spectacular courtship behavior, the grebes beat their feet so rapidly they literally run over the surface of the water.
Image ID: 40848
Species: Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebe Rushing, Running Across Water.
Image ID: 40844
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Two Western Grebes Walk on Water, Rushing, Backlit by the Rising Sun. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 40890
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

An unusual mixed-species pair of grebes rushing, Western Grebe on right and Clark's Grebe on left. In this spectacular courtship behavior, the grebes beat their feet so rapidly they literally run over the surface of the water.
Image ID: 40849
Species: Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Hook the Western Grebe with a fishing hook embedded in the back side of his head, Lake Wohlford.
Image ID: 40852
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Two Western Grebes Walk on Water. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 40892
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 40859
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 40843
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Courting Western Grebes.
Image ID: 40895
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Clark's Grebe on Lake Wohlford.
Image ID: 40850
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Western Grebes rushing across Lake Wohlford, exhibiting a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run across the surface of the water while their feet hit the water up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 40853
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Hook the Western Grebe with a fishing hook embedded in the back side of his head, Lake Wohlford.
Image ID: 40856
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Courting Clark's Grebes on Lake Wohlford.
Image ID: 40858
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Two Western Grebes Walk on Water. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 40894
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Courting Clark's Grebes on Lake Wohlford.
Image ID: 40864
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Clark's Grebes rushing side by side, a spectacular courtship behavior in which the aquatic birds literally run on the surface of the water while slapping their feet up to 20 times per second.
Image ID: 40911
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Two Rushing Western Grebes Walk on Water. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 40912
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

Two Rushing Western Grebes Walk on Water. Grebe rushing, a courtship behavior, happens when the birds slap the lake surface up to 20 times per second, literally running across the water.
Image ID: 40913
Species: Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

An unusual mixed-species pair of grebes rushing, Western Grebe on right and Clark's Grebe on left. In this spectacular courtship behavior, the grebes beat their feet so rapidly they literally run over the surface of the water.
Image ID: 40914
Species: Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California

California Brown Pelicans in La Jolla, November through January

admin — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 15:15:24 +0000

Again this winter I used La Jolla’s California race of brown pelicans as a subject on which to practice through the winter while I am not diving or otherwise photographing. I am still using the same gear as last winter: Sony A-1 with 600/4 and 200-600 lenses. For the usual reason – no crowds – I had great luck in November through the end of December. I was alone on Goldfish Point at sunrise most of the time and able to photograph from the lower shelf surrounded by perched birds which is really the best spot for point-blank flight images. Other photographers started showing up around Christmas and groups appeared in January, and at those times the opportunities change as the pelicans sometimes respond by moving to other perches. Not always, but it happens. I shift to photographing sea lions surfing in January anyway. Below are some of my keeper images of California brown pelicans from the last few months. Probably my favorite among them is the bright-yellow-necked head throwing pelican. I have a lot of great head throw images but one with such a brilliant yellow gular pouch is different and hard to get because a yellow throat instead of red on an otherwise classic breeding plumage pelican is atypical. I have heard such a bird referred to as a “yellow morph” but I have also been scolded for the term because of the genetic implications of “morph” so now I call it a “phase”. I’m not a biologist or avian expert or even what a real bird photographer would consider a real bird photographer, I just like the yellow and have to call it something. I was also pleased to get another braking flight, seen below with wings fully outstretched and coming straight down the axis of the lens, complete with a clearly visible research ID band on both legs. I submitted the band sighting of course. If you like these, I have lots of past articles about La Jolla brown pelicans as well as a somewhat dated but still meaningful summary of how to photograph brown pelicans in La Jolla if you have never been there. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter mating plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40806
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A Perfect Yellow Phase Brown Pelican Head Throw with Distant Ocean in Background, bending over backwards, stretching its neck and gular pouch. Note the winter breeding plumage except with bright yellow throat instead of the more typical red, yellow head, pink skin around the eye, brown hind neck with some white neck side detail, gray breast and body.
Image ID: 40809
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A Perfect Brown Pelican Head Throw with Distant Ocean in Background, bending over backwards, stretching its neck and gular pouch. Note the winter breeding plumage, yellow head, red and olive throat, pink skin around the eye, brown hind neck with some white neck side detail, gray breast and body.
Image ID: 40794
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

Brown pelican soaring in flight with wings fully outstretched. The wingspan of the brown pelican is over 7 feet wide. The California race of the brown pelican holds endangered species status.
Image ID: 40776
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter mating plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40788
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Subadult / juvenile plumage.
Image ID: 40789
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter mating plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40795
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

Research ID band on the left leg of a California Brown Pelican. A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter mating plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40797
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

Yellow phase California brown pelican preening, cleaning its feathers after foraging on the ocean, with distinctive winter breeding plumage with distinctive dark brown nape, yellow head feathers. Note the unusual yellow gular throat pouch.
Image ID: 40804
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Subadult / juvenile plumage.
Image ID: 40805
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

California brown pelicans socializing and clapping each other with their large beaks, on cliffs over the Pacific Ocean in San Diego.
Image ID: 40808
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

Adult California brown pelican in winter non-breeding plumage. This pelican already displays the red and olive throat and white and yellow head feathers of an adult winter brown pelican but is lacking the brown neck.
Image ID: 40778
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter mating plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40780
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

Brown pelican soaring in flight with wings fully outstretched. The wingspan of the brown pelican is over 7 feet wide. The California race of the brown pelican holds endangered species status.
Image ID: 40783
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter mating plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40786
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

California brown pelican breeding plumage portrait, with brown hind neck, yellow head and bright red throat.
Image ID: 40792
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Adult winter mating plumage with yellow head, red throat and brown hindneck.
Image ID: 40796
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

California brown pelican breeding plumage portrait, with brown hind neck, yellow head and bright red throat.
Image ID: 40802
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

California brown pelicans socializing and clapping each other with their large beaks, on cliffs over the Pacific Ocean in San Diego.
Image ID: 40810
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Brown Pelican flying over the Pacific Ocean, spreads its large wings wide to slow down as it slows to land on seacliffs in La Jolla. Subadult / juvenile plumage.
Image ID: 40777
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

2024 Song of the Humpback Whale and Remembering Doctor Dan

admin — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 03:01:10 +0000

While in Moorea watching whales Tracy and I were fortunate to spend several hours listening to humpback whale song. I experienced whale song many times in Hawaii although that was 20+ years ago so the experience was no longer fresh in my mind. Tracy had heard whalesong as well but only through the hull of our research boat. Humpback whale singers are always male and usually alone. Since our efforts in those days were focused on groups of humpbacks, gathering data about their socialization, we did not spend much time looking for or observing singers. But we did encounter them throughout the season and if the timing made sense we would do our best to ID the singer and record the song. Other researchers were devoted to studying whale song and would use dedicated hydrophones, but our efforts relied mostly on the hydrophones on our video cameras.

I have Pierre Serreli to thank for finding ideal conditions for us to observe a singer in Moorea. Pierre is a talented, passionate and experienced captain and guide on Moorea. I really like his philosophy about whale watching and the well-being of the whales, and I’ll be joining him again next year. Each day we went away from other boats to find “our own water”. The downside to this is that we might miss seeing whales that others were already with, but we were comfortable with that since we had an entire week devoted and modest goals. The upside is that if we did find whales we would be alone. When recording sound underwater being far from other boats is a huge benefit: since sound carries so well underwater, any other boats in the area will add noise to the whalesong.

While we were not really looking for him, it was not hard to find our singer since he remained in one area all week. We encountered him on three different days. The first day the audio I recorded was just ok but I realized that with a simple change the audio would improve greatly. When we found the singer again the next day we decided to simply float in the water near him, listen patiently and try to obtain as clear a recording as possible using our new approach. Captain Temana moved the boat away so that we had no noise other than a little splashing of waves. This singer was as good as I have ever experienced. He was loud, clear, moved little during his song and would pay Tracy, Pierre and me a visit to check us out each time he surfaced. I felt his song as much as heard it: my fins vibrated, I felt a drumming sensation in my chest and the hair on my arms stood on end. His song transitioned to a staccato sound in the minute before he would surface, a recognizable pattern that enabled us to know when the song was cycling over again and he was about to come up for a breath.

Dr. Dan R. Salden, the founder and driving force of the Hawaii Whale Research Foundation for 30+ years, was fondly known as “Doctor Dan” among the Lahaina whale research community. He was a friend, mentor and someone from whom I learned a great deal. He invited me to join his team and contribute to his research by obtaining video and images of competitive groups of whales in order to identify the focal animals (female, primary escort, principal challenging escort(s), peripheral whales) and thus assign roles to the fluke IDs we obtained with topside cameras. Dan’s invitation profoundly changed the course of my life. During the 10 years I worked with him I witnessed many incredible social situations among humpbacks, things few people get to see even from a boat not to mention at close range in the water. I was challenged physically to put myself in the best position to record what was happening. I was challenged mentally to figure out who was whom among the whales with often fleeting views in fast-moving situations. I have never felt more alive than when in the presence of a large humpback competitive group and I have Dan Salden to thank for that. Dan passed away in 2012.

Fast forward to 2024. Meeting our singer in Moorea and having the opportunity to listen intently to his song was moving and brought back memories of my time on the water with friends studying whales near Lahaina with Dan in his element driving the boat or photographing flukes. It seemed natural to name our singer “Doctor Dan” in honor of my old friend and mentor. Below is a 38-minute selection of recordings we made of “Doctor Dan” in September 2024, near Moorea, French Polynesia. One of it’s most intriguing aspects is that the song can be clearly heard echoing off the island, something I don’t remember hearing in Maui but I imagine is common and simply depends on the bathymetry of the area. Try listening to the passages starting at about 2:00 or 24:25. If you are bona fide researcher and would like copies of the original sound files, please contact me by email and I can send them to you . The recording is also available on Soundcloud: Song of the Humpback Whale in Moorea, French Polynesia, September 2024

Phillip Colla · Song of the Humpback Whale, Recorded Underwater in Tahiti, 2024

"Docter Dan", a solitary male South Pacific humpback whale underwater, surfacing to breath between episodes of singing, Moorea, French Polynesia.
Image ID: 40665
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

Natural History Photography – My Favorite Photos of 2024

admin — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:12:27 +0000

2024 brought very little diving around Southern California but instead surprised us with an array of new experiences and photo subjects. We managed to check off several bucket list items as well as a cross-town move and a cross-country road trip with a puppy. Locally, I did a little diving at Catalina and the usual fall dives with sea lion pups in the Coronado Islands. As for large animals: Tracy and I spent many seasons in the 90s working with humpback whales in Hawaii but at that time she was on the permit only for topside work and could not enter the water, so we finally fixed that in September in warm Polynesian waters. For good measure we added a week in Baja with the friendly gray whales (the photos are unremarkable and none made this year’s list). Over the summer we sold one home and bought another – the latter needing considerably more work than we planned — so I did not spend as much time hiking in the mountains or diving over the summer as hoped but those places will be there next year. I took a quick trip to Florida in the spring to try my hand at bird photography, had a good time and learned a lot for next time. Lastly, while I have dived many of the islands along both sides of Baja California from the border south to Clipperton over the past 36 years, I had yet to visit those in the northern Sea of Cortez. That has now been remedied after a week in the Midriff Islands.

This is the 18th year I have done an annual photography retrospective. My favorite images of the past year are below, roughly in chronological order. Click each image to go big. My goal for any one year is always to shoot 3-4 world-class images and 10-15 portfolio-quality images. If you like these feel free to check out previous years’ favorites as well: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007. Cheers and thanks for looking!

Endangered Brown Pelican Flying with Wings Spread Ready to Land. The brown pelican's wingspan can reach 7 feet.
Image ID: 40096
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus, Pelecanus occidentalis
Location: La Jolla, California

Brandt's Cormorant flying with wings spread wide as it slows to land at its nest on ocean cliffs.
Image ID: 40131
Species: Brandt's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lion surfing in a wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40232
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

Whimbrel Foraging Amidst Spring Wildflowers on Coast Walk, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40256
Species: Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus
Location: La Jolla, California

Spring Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road, Spring 2024. Sunrise light barely illuminating the flowers.
Image ID: 40271
Species: Dune evening primrose, Sand verbena, Oenothera deltoides, Abronia villosa
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Starfish Sea Star Detail, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40332
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Isla Angel de la Guarda at Sunset, Aerial Photo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Guardian Angel island is part of the Midriff Islands in Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40335
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

SCUBA Divers at Night, Isla de la Guarda Island, aerial photo, Sea of Cortez. Dive boat Rocio del Mar is seen in the distance. Night diving is scary so I stay on the big boat and fly my drone.
Image ID: 40372
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Two Divers in Huge Cavern, San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40389
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Black Coral on Rocky Reef, Unidentified species, isla San Pedro Martir, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40411
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40475
Species: Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

California sea lions surfing in a wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40488
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

Peregrine Falcon in flight, Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.
Image ID: 40506
Species: Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus
Location: Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego, California

The bright orange garibaldi fish, California's state marine fish.
Image ID: 40512
Species: Garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus
Location: Catalina Island, California

Giant kelpfish in underwater kelp forest, Catalina Island.
Image ID: 40523
Species: Giant kelpfish, Heterostichus rostratus
Location: Catalina Island, California

Juvenile garibaldi, vibrant spots distinguish it from pure orange adult form.
Image ID: 40527
Species: Garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus
Location: Catalina Island, California

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40537
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Wood Stork in flight, Mycteria americana.
Image ID: 40562
Species: Wood Stork, Mycteria americana
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Sanderling, Calidris alba, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40574
Species: Sanderling, Calidris alba
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Burrowing owl, Cape Coral, Florida, subspecies Athene cunicularia floridana. This 10-inch-tall burrowing owl is standing beside its burrow. These burrows are usually created by squirrels, prairie dogs, or other rodents and even turtles, and only rarely dug by the owl itself.
Image ID: 40585
Species: Burrowing Owl, Athene cunicularia floridana, Athene cunicularia
Location: Cape Coral, Florida

Aerial photo of blue whale near San Diego. This enormous blue whale glides at the surface of the ocean, resting and breathing before it dives to feed on subsurface krill.
Image ID: 40611
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California

Pacific Harbor Seal at Children's Pool with La Jolla in the background.
Image ID: 40697
Location: La Jolla, California

Pacific harbor seal in shallow water, on sand at the edge of the sea.
Image ID: 40699
Location: La Jolla, California

A mother California sea lion and her pup, underwater at the Coronado Islands, Mexico. Mothers and pups spend much time together with the mother teaching her young padawan learner how to pursue prey.
Image ID: 40729
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Young California Sea Lions at Play Underwater in the Coronado Islands, Mexico. Pups spend much of their time playing with one another in the water, strengthening their swimming skills and mock jousting.
Image ID: 40738
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

A mother California sea lion (right) and her pup (left), underwater at the Coronado Islands, Mexico. Mothers and pups spend much time together with the mother teaching her young padawan learner how to pursue prey.
Image ID: 40739
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Pacific Harbor Seal Hauled on on Rocks at low tide, La Jolla's Children's Pool.
Image ID: 40754
Location: La Jolla, California

Huge California Sea Lion Male Underwater, a bull, patrolling his breeding harem and territory, Coronado Islands, Mexico. His sagittal crest, the bony bump on his head that distinguishes adult male sea lions, is clearly seen.
Image ID: 40761
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Barrier Reef around Moorea Island, French Polynesia. Cook's Bay to the left, Opunohu Bay to the right. The outer reef slope is seen adjacent to deep blue oceanic water with white waves breaking against the reef edge. Next, a wide shallow reef flat occurs dotted with coral bommies. Inside of that, a shallow protected lagoon is formed against the island. Tall, rugged, eroded mountains are seen hinting at the age of the ancient volcano that originally formed the island and that is now sinking back down, leaving the encircling reef behind.
Image ID: 40673
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

Inquisitive Calf South Pacific Humpback Whale Underwater, Moorea, French Polynesia.
Image ID: 40638
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

South Pacific Humpback Whales Underwater, Moorea, French Polynesia. A short-finned pilot whale photo-bombs.
Image ID: 40655
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Moorea, French Polynesia, France

Gray whale calf, San Ignacio Lagoon

Dog paddling, Bass Lake, California

Diving Islas San Lorenzo in Baja California’s Midriff Islands, Mexico

admin — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:53:42 +0000

After two days diving the waters around Isla San Pedro Martir, the Rocio del Mar departed with an overnight passage to a small group of islands to our northwest, Islas San Lorenzo. We spent only one day diving here, so I did not get to know the area as well as the islands earlier in the trip. I decided to spend the entire day photographing critters with my closeup lens; I rarely do this and it was a nice change of pace to slow down and look closely for little creatures. One dive in a particular provided an explosion of Flabellinopsis iodinea nudibranchs, hundreds of them everywhere. I can’t imagine that is a typical situation; there must have been some sort of reproduction event happening. Or, maybe it is always like this. Regardless, while I see this species in California it was nice to see such a profusion of them, including very large ones. I did not see any sea lions or large schools of fish here, but did encounter a nice variety of typical small Sea of Cortez reef fishes. All in all, it was a nice location to spend our final day of SCUBA diving for this trip. See also part 1: Diving Isla Angel de la Guarda and part 2:Diving Isla San Pedro Martir. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Invertebrate detail on rocky reef, Isla San Lorenzo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40430
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Unidentified Reef Fish, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40431
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Mexican hogfish, female coloration, Islas San Lorenzo, Sea of Cortez, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40432
Species: Mexican hogfish, Bodianus diplotaenia
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Lizard Triplefin Blenny, Crocodilichthys gracilis, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40435
Species: Lizard Triplefin Blenny, Crocodilichthys gracilis
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Aerial photo of Islas San Lorenzo in the Sea of Cortez. San Lorenzo Marine Archipelago National Park is a national park of Mexico located on San Lorenzo Island part of an archipelago in the Gulf of California off the eastern coast of Baja California. The San Lorenzo Archipelago is considered one of the most important ecological areas of the Gulf of California. The Island and surrounding areas are part of a rich ecosystem comprised by a grand variety of flora and marine fauna. This area is protected by the Mexican federal government Norma Oficial Mexicana because of its importance as a habitat for several endangered species.
Image ID: 40436
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Aerial photo of Islas San Lorenzo in the Sea of Cortez. San Lorenzo Marine Archipelago National Park is a national park of Mexico located on San Lorenzo Island part of an archipelago in the Gulf of California off the eastern coast of Baja California. The San Lorenzo Archipelago is considered one of the most important ecological areas of the Gulf of California. The Island and surrounding areas are part of a rich ecosystem comprised by a grand variety of flora and marine fauna. This area is protected by the Mexican federal government Norma Oficial Mexicana because of its importance as a habitat for several endangered species.
Image ID: 40441
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Barspot Cardinalfish, Apogon retrosell, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40442
Species: Barspot Cardinalfish, Apogon retrosell
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Acanthemblemaria crockeri, Brown-cheek barnacle-blenny, Islas San Lorenzo, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40444
Species: Brown-cheek barnacle-blenny, Acanthemblemaria crockeri
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Speckeled Flatworm, Pseudoceros bajae, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40448
Species: Speckeled Flatworm, Pseudoceros bajae
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Marine flatworm, Pseudoceros sp., Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40449
Species: Pseudoceros sp
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Lizard Triplefin Blenny, Crocodilichthys gracilis, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40452
Species: Lizard Triplefin Blenny, Crocodilichthys gracilis
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Sacoglossan nudibranch Elysia diomedea, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40453
Species: Elysia diomedea
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Aerial photo of Islas San Lorenzo in the Sea of Cortez. San Lorenzo Marine Archipelago National Park is a national park of Mexico located on San Lorenzo Island part of an archipelago in the Gulf of California off the eastern coast of Baja California. The San Lorenzo Archipelago is considered one of the most important ecological areas of the Gulf of California. The Island and surrounding areas are part of a rich ecosystem comprised by a grand variety of flora and marine fauna. This area is protected by the Mexican federal government Norma Oficial Mexicana because of its importance as a habitat for several endangered species.
Image ID: 40457
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Blue-and-yellow chromis, Chromis limbaughi, Islas San Lorenzo, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40460
Species: Connie's damsel, Chromis limbaughi
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Marine flatworm, Pseudoceros sp., Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40462
Species: Pseudoceros sp
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40469
Species: Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40471
Species: Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Diving Isla San Pedro Martir in Baja California’s Midriff Islands, Mexico

admin — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 01:49:44 +0000

After two days diving Isla Angel de la Guarda, we made an overnight crossing to Isla San Pedro Martir, a spectacular and remote island in the middle of the Sea of Cortez. Isla San Pedro Martir is a critical habitat for sea birds, and indeed the island is covered in such thick bird guano that it was, long ago, a penal colony where ill-fated prisoners harvested guano as a fertilizer, often dying from hardship and exposure while carrying out their sentence. Wikipedia has a succinct description of the island’s unique position in the ecosystem of the Sea of Cortez:

The island and its marine life are, since 2002, part of the San Pedro Martir Biosphere Reserve, and is regarded as a natural laboratory of adaptive evolution, similar to that of the Galápagos Islands. It is home to 292 species of fauna and flora (both land-based and aquatic), with 42 species protected by Mexican law, and 30 listed on the Red List of Threatened Species. San Pedro Martir is also unique in the area for its year-round quantity of birds. The island is the only island in the area with a perpetually swirling cloud of sea birds. This is because the water around the island, has some of the most successful marine productivity in the world, resulting in incredible densities of small-pelagic fish, such as anchovies and sardines, in comparison to other regions of the world. This attracts both seabirds and whales to its waters. Isla San Pedro is regarded as one of the most significant bird sanctuaries in the Sea of Cortes.

We dove near a small colony of sea lions, and a few came to see us, but for the most part they were standoffish. For me, the diving was highlighted by many species of gorgonians and, most especially, enormous expanses of dense “black coral” carpeting sheer walls that would drop out of sight into the depths below. I spent most of my time seeking out the best patches of black coral. It is reasonably common to find black coral in the Sea of Cortez but I have never seen it in such profusion anywhere in the world, it was really striking. I was also impressed with the forest of cardon cactus carpeting the top of the island. Cheers, and thanks for looking! See also part 1: Diving Isla Angel de la Guarda and part 3:Diving Islas San Lorenzo

California Sea Lion, San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40375
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Gorgonians on Lush Rocky Reef, San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez. Gorgonians are colonial filter feeders, spreading their branches into the currents flowing over the reef in order to gather passing bits of food.
Image ID: 40377
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Isla San Pedro Martir at sunset with extensive forest of Cardon Cactus seen on the summit ridge of the island, aerial photo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. San Pedro Martir Island and its marine life are, since 2002, part of the San Pedro Martir Biosphere Reserve, and is regarded as a natural laboratory of adaptive evolution, similar to that of the Galapagos Islands. It is home to 292 species of fauna and flora (both land-based and aquatic), with 42 species protected by Mexican law, and 30 listed on the Red List of Threatened Species. San Pedro Martir is also unique in the area for its year-round quantity of birds. The island is the only island in the area with a perpetually swirling cloud of sea birds. This is because the water around the island, has some of the most successful marine productivity in the world.
Image ID: 40397
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Extensive Forest of Cardon Cactus on the Summit Ridge of San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. The island and its marine life are, since 2002, part of the San Pedro Martir Biosphere Reserve, and is regarded as a natural laboratory of adaptive evolution, similar to that of the Galapagos Islands. It is home to 292 species of fauna and flora (both land-based and aquatic), with 42 species protected by Mexican law, and 30 listed on the Red List of Threatened Species. San Pedro Martir is also unique in the area for its year-round quantity of birds. The island is the only island in the area with a perpetually swirling cloud of sea birds. This is because the water around the island, has some of the most successful marine productivity in the world.
Image ID: 40386
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Two Divers in Huge Cavern, San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40389
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Black Coral and Gorgonians on Rocky Reef, San Pedro Martir Island, Mexico.
Image ID: 40390
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Black Coral and Gorgonians on Rocky Reef, San Pedro Martir Island, Mexico.
Image ID: 40392
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Black Coral on Rocky Reef, Unidentified species, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40393
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

California Sea Lion, San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40395
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Rugged Terrain of Isla San Pedro Martir, Sea of Cortez. Aerial photo. The large bird population deposits enormous quantities of guano on the island, resulting in the white appearance of the island contrasted with sparse vegetation. In the late 19th and early 20th century guano was heavily mined off the island and shipped as far as Europe for use as fertilizer. San Pedro Martir is seldom visited, having near vertical sides leaving only questionable fair weather anchorages in two locations. Landing access was possible near a small isthmus in the southeast of the island, but is now forbidden. In 2005, the island was classified along with 244 others as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and included in the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California.
Image ID: 40401
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Black Coral on Rocky Reef, Unidentified species, isla San Pedro Martir, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40411
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Gorgonians on Lush Rocky Reef, San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez. Gorgonians are colonial filter feeders, spreading their branches into the currents flowing over the reef in order to gather passing bits of food.
Image ID: 40415
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Pink Sponges Encrusting Rocky Reef alongside various species of algae and gorgonians, San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40417
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Offshore Islets of San Pedro Martir Island, Sea of Cortez. Small rocky islets around the larger Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez offer some of the best diving in the Sea of Cortez with a rich variety of invertebrate and fish life.
Image ID: 40423
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Black Coral on Rocky Reef, Unidentified species, isla San Pedro Martir, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40426
Location: Isla San Pedro Martir, Sonora, Mexico

Diving Isla Angel de la Guarda in Baja California’s Midriff Islands, Mexico

admin — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:49:29 +0000

Midriffs Trip part 1 of 3: In July I spent a week diving the Midriff Islands in the Northern part of the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). I had never been to these islands and had wanted to see them for decades to go along with the many other Mexican Pacific islands I have dived over the years. The diving was very good. I was especially impressed at the variety and number of nudibranchs several of which are seen below. After driving down from Phoenix (no flights!) we departed Puerto Penasco (“Rocky Point”) on the liveaboard dive vessel Rocio Del Mar. The Rocio Del Mar has been operating in the northern Sea of Cortez (as well as the south, and the Revillagigedos) for many years, and they know the dive spots and islands well. The boat is large with lots of deck space, delicious and generous meals, a smooth easy ride, capable pangas and one of the best and friendliest crews I have met. The crew took great care of us. I was lucky enough to have my own stateroom which really made me feel spoiled. I really enjoyed waking up before dawn each day and enjoying the sunrise from the top deck with a cup of tea and my camera.

We left Puerto Penasco and motored overnight in calm seas and arrived at the Isla Angel de la Guarda (“Guardian Angel Island”) at sunrise the following day to begin two full days of dives at the northernmost island of the Midriffs. The water was in the 70s and my 5/3 wetsuit was good. I focused my attention on the nudibranchs, small reef fishes, and gorgonians and large expanses of black coral. My favorite keeper shots of the first two days of the trip are below. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

See also part 2:Diving Isla San Pedro Martir and part 3: Diving Islas San Lorenzo

The blue-spotted jawfish is a species of jawfish native to the Gulf of California. It is an inhabitant of reefs where it is found in large colonies at depths of around 12 metres. This species hides in its burrow at night, completely sealing the entrance. Every morning, it rebuilds the burrow entrance.
Image ID: 40315
Species: Blue-Spotted Jawfish, Opistognathus rosenblatti
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Marcus' aeolid sea slug or nudibranch, Coryphellina marcusorum, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40317
Species: Marcus' aeolid, Coryphellina marcusorum
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea, Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40323
Species: Spanish shawl nudibranch, Flabellinopsis iodinea
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Isla Angel de la Guarda, Aerial Photo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Guardian Angel island is part of the Midriff Islands in Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40327
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Isla Angel de la Guarda, Aerial Photo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. This offshore pinnacle near Isla de la Guarda island offers spectacular underwater scenery along with a slew of nudibranchs. Guardian Angel island is part of the Midriff Islands in Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40328
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Gorgonian Polyps, Detail. Gorgonians are colonial animals that extend branches of polyps into currents that flow over the reef in order to capture passing bits of food.
Image ID: 40329
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Starfish Sea Star Detail, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40331
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Mexican hogfish, female coloration, Isla de la Guarda, Sea of Cortez, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40333
Species: Mexican hogfish, Bodianus diplotaenia
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Cardon Cactus grow on Isla Angel de la Guarda at Sunset, Aerial Photo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Guardian Angel island is part of the Midriff Islands in Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40337
Species: Cardon cactus, Elephant cactus, Pachycereus pringlei
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Blue-and-yellow chromis admist Black Coral, Chromis limbaughi, Islas San Lorenzo, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40341
Species: Connie's damsel, Chromis limbaughi
Location: Islas San Lorenzo, Baja California, Mexico

Mexican hogfish, female coloration, Isla de la Guarda, Sea of Cortez, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40342
Species: Mexican hogfish, Bodianus diplotaenia
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Cortez Angelfish, Pomacanthus zonipectus, Isla Angel de la Guarda, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40343
Species: Cortez Angelfish, Pomacanthus zonipectus
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Barberfish, Black-Nosed Butterflyfish, Johnrandallia nigrirostris, Isla de la Guarda, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40344
Species: Barberfish, Johnrandallia nigrirostris
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Gorgonians and Juvenile Mexican Hogfish on Lush Rocky Reef, Isla de la Guarda, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40349
Species: Mexican hogfish, Bodianus diplotaenia
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Cortez Angelfish, Pomacanthus zonipectus, Isla Angel de la Guarda, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40352
Species: Cortez Angelfish, Pomacanthus zonipectus
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Lizard Triplefin Blenny, Crocodilichthys gracilis, Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40354
Species: Lizard Triplefin Blenny, Crocodilichthys gracilis
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Tambja abdere nudibranch, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40355
Species: Concealed Tambja Nudibranch, Tambja abdere
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Norris' Chromodorid, Felimida norrisi, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40356
Species: Norris' Chromodorid, Felimida norrisi
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Glossodoris sedna nudibranch, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40357
Species: Red-Tipped Sea Goddess, Glossodoris sedna, Chromolaichma sedna
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Tambja eliora nudibranch, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40362
Species: Blue-Striped Nudibranch, Tambja eliora
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Tambja abdere nudibranch, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40363
Species: Concealed Tambja Nudibranch, Tambja abdere
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Blue-banded goby in the Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez, Mexico.
Image ID: 40364
Species: Bluebanded goby, Lythrypnus dalli
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Dive boat Rocio del Mar anchored at Isla Angel de la Guarda at Sunset, Aerial Photo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Guardian Angel island is part of the Midriff Islands in Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40366
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Dive boat Rocio del Mar anchored at Isla Angel de la Guarda at Sunset, Aerial Photo, Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Guardian Angel island is part of the Midriff Islands in Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
Image ID: 40370
Location: Isla Angel de la Guarda, Baja California, Mexico

Sea Lions in the Coronado Islands, Baja California, Mexico, Fall 2024

admin — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 04:00:54 +0000

I managed several trips in October and November to the Coronado Islands, in northern Baja California just south of San Diego, to dive with California Sea Lion pups (Zalophus californianus) at the “Lobster Shack” rookery. I try to visit each fall when the combination of dive conditions and sea lion pup behavior is at its best. The sea lions were exceptional this year, really great. It looks to me like they have thrived since June when the pups were born. Water quality was not the best, and it was a struggle to find pockets of clean water in which to make pictures. But the sheer numbers of inquisitive pups, along with several tolerant bulls, made up for it with a dozen or so really fun dives. This is a sampling of my favorite keeper images from October and November. You’ll notice several depict purple algae on the rocks: one of my favorite spots features a broad, flat shallow patch of this picturesque algae where the pups play with small cobblestones and a bull patrols overhead. On a calm day at high tide it’s almost like a big aquarium and I’ll spend two hours at a time there if I can. If you like these, here are posts of the same sea lion colony in previous years. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Inquisitive young California sea lion underwater, this is a pup-of-the-year born in June and only about five months old, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40766
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California sea lions swimming underwater, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40680
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Inquisitive young California sea lion underwater, this is a pup-of-the-year born in June and only about five months old, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40681
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California sea lions swimming underwater, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40685
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Young California Sea Lions at Play Underwater in the Coronado Islands, Mexico. Pups spend much of their time playing with one another in the water, strengthening their swimming skills and mock jousting.
Image ID: 40723
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Young California Sea Lions at Play Underwater in the Coronado Islands, Mexico. Pups spend much of their time playing with one another in the water, strengthening their swimming skills and mock jousting.
Image ID: 40724
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California Sea Lions and Underwater Photographer Celia Kujala at the Coronado Islands, Mexico.
Image ID: 40726
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California sea lions swimming underwater, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40727
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

A mother California sea lion (bottom) and her pup (top), underwater at the Coronado Islands, Mexico. Mothers and pups spend much time together with the mother teaching her young padawan learner how to pursue prey.
Image ID: 40732
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California sea lion laying on pink marine algae and eyeing the photographer, Coronado Islands, Mexico.
Image ID: 40733
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California sea lion laying on pink marine algae and eyeing the photographer, Coronado Islands, Mexico.
Image ID: 40735
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Huge California Sea Lion Male Underwater, a bull, patrolling his breeding harem and territory, Coronado Islands, Mexico. His sagittal crest, the bony bump on his head that distinguishes adult male sea lions, is clearly seen.
Image ID: 40737
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

A beautiful golden-brown female California Sea Lion at the Coronado Islands, posing on a carpet of purple marine algae, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40740
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Young California Sea Lions at Play Underwater in the Coronado Islands, Mexico. Pups spend much of their time playing with one another in the water, strengthening their swimming skills and mock jousting.
Image ID: 40755
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California sea lion pup with open mouth inspecting the dome port on my underwater camera, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40757
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Two male California sea lions mock joust and fight underwater, not yet full grown, they are learning how to contend with one another when they become bulls and gather their own harems of females. Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40760
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Inquisitive young California sea lion underwater inspects my glove by gently mouthing it. This is a pup-of-the-year born in June and only about five months old. Sea lions are tactile creatures and learn about objects and their surroundings by biting on them. Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40767
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Inquisitive young California sea lion underwater, this is a pup-of-the-year born in June and only about five months old, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40770
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Inquisitive young California sea lion underwater, this is a pup-of-the-year born in June and only about five months old, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40684
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

California sea lion laying on pink marine algae and eyeing the photographer, Coronado Islands, Mexico.
Image ID: 40730
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Huge California Sea Lion Male Underwater, a bull, patrolling his breeding harem and territory, Coronado Islands, Mexico. His sagittal crest, the bony bump on his head that distinguishes adult male sea lions, is clearly seen.
Image ID: 40734
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Young California sea lion pup playing with a stone underwater, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40742
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Inquisitive young California sea lion underwater, this is a pup-of-the-year born in June and only about five months old, Coronado Islands near San Diego, Baja California, Mexico.
Image ID: 40773
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

North Coronado Island, Mexico, southern point and keyhole looking north, clouds hugging the top of the island, San Diego in the distance, aerial photograph.
Image ID: 40775
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Middle Coronado Island, aerial photo, Middle Rocks (Middle Grounds) and South Coronado Island in the distance.
Image ID: 40745
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

South Coronado Island, viewed from the south, with Middle Island and North Island in the distance.
Image ID: 40748
Location: Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Baja California, Mexico

Burrowing Owls in Cape Coral, Florida

admin — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 02:09:44 +0000

Two things appear to abound in Cape Coral, a gulf coast town not far south of Fort Myers: retirees in golf cars and burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia floridana) . The former inhabit the bungalows that line the streets and canals. The latter inhabit burrows in yards, along street medians, in parks and libraries – basically everywhere. I decided to make the drive down to Cape Coral in order to see these small owls for myself. I got in touch with a few friends who were able to give me advice about where to best locate some nests. Advice in hand, I scouted out some spots, figured out which owls seemed to be most tolerant of people and hand good sight lines for sunset light, and then went back to the few I guessed would be best in the late afternoon. I then laid down on the ground and waited. Soon they would pop up and I was able to make some portraits. I should mention this is a situation for the longest lens you have. I used 840mm. I just don’t want to spook these little guys. The greater the distance to the owl the more comfortable the owl is likely to be with your presence which is the only way to get any photographs. Also, a longer lens allows for a narrower and usually more defocused background.

Burrowing owl, Cape Coral, Florida, subspecies Athene cunicularia floridana. This 10-inch-tall burrowing owl is standing beside its burrow. These burrows are usually created by squirrels, prairie dogs, or other rodents and even turtles, and only rarely dug by the owl itself.
Image ID: 40587
Species: Burrowing Owl, Athene cunicularia floridana, Athene cunicularia
Location: Cape Coral, Florida

Burrowing owl, Cape Coral, Florida, subspecies Athene cunicularia floridana. This 10-inch-tall burrowing owl is standing beside its burrow. These burrows are usually created by squirrels, prairie dogs, or other rodents and even turtles, and only rarely dug by the owl itself.
Image ID: 40588
Species: Burrowing Owl, Athene cunicularia floridana, Athene cunicularia
Location: Cape Coral, Florida

A Morning Photographing Birds at Fort De Soto Park, Florida

admin — Mon, 13 May 2024 22:53:17 +0000

I decided to squeeze in a morning photographing shore birds at Fort De Soto Park, south of St. Petersburg. I got there as the gates opened just after sunrise and made my way to North Beach. There were a lot of shore birds, none of which I had much luck with. I decided to just walk the shoreline and get familiar with the bird activity, and enjoy the beautiful white sand and cool breeze. Some folks were shelling and probably finding some nice shells. This spot seemed to be one that would yield good images with repeat visits once one has learned the pulse of the bird life. Fort De Soto is considered one of the Florida’s nicest beaches and I can see why. I’ll definitely be back. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Greater Yellowlegs at sunrise, Tringa melanoleuca, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40568
Species: Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40572
Species: Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Sanderling, Calidris alba, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40574
Species: Sanderling, Calidris alba
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40575
Species: Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40576
Species: Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Snowy Plover, Charadrius nivosus, with three Identification bands, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40570
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Unidentified Shorebird, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40571
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40573
Species: Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens, hunting fish by spreading its wings and creating a shadow in the water around its legs, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40580
Species: Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Osprey in Flight with Fish Prey, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40581
Species: Osprey, Pandion haliaetus
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Osprey, Fort De Soto, Florida.
Image ID: 40583
Species: Osprey, Pandion haliaetus
Location: Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

Wood Storks and Egrets at the Harley Davidson Rookery

admin — Sun, 12 May 2024 18:55:52 +0000

While I was in the Tampa area to photograph Roseate Spoonbills at the Alafia Banks, I made a couple side trips to see the bird activity at the Harley Davidson rookery. This is a cool spot, behind the Harley Davidson store with a couple large trees situated in the middle of a small pond providing great nesting territory. The most prevalent species I saw were Wood Stork, Blue Heron, White Egret and Anhinga. Nobody was around and I could sit in the shade with my rolled tacos and enjoy the activity of birds arriving with nesting material, preening and socializing with their chicks. I will definitely return to this rookery if I visit Tampa in March again. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Great egret, White Egret, Ardea alba, Florida.
Image ID: 40561
Species: Great egret, Ardea alba
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Wood Stork in flight carrying nesting material, Mycteria americana.
Image ID: 40566
Species: Wood Stork, Mycteria americana
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Wood Stork, mated pair courting at the nest, Mycteria americana.
Image ID: 40555
Species: Wood Stork, Mycteria americana
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Wood Stork in flight, Mycteria americana.
Image ID: 40562
Species: Wood Stork, Mycteria americana
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Wood Stork, Mycteria americana.
Image ID: 40557
Species: Wood Stork, Mycteria americana
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Double-Crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, Florida.
Image ID: 40563
Species: Double-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Great Blue Heron.
Image ID: 40564
Species: Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Great egret, White Egret, Ardea alba, Florida.
Image ID: 40565
Species: Great egret, Ardea alba
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Wood Stork in flight carrying nesting material, Mycteria americana.
Image ID: 40567
Species: Wood Stork, Mycteria americana
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Great egret, White Egret, Ardea alba, Florida.
Image ID: 40556
Species: Great egret, Ardea alba
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Wood Stork, mated pair courting at the nest, Mycteria americana.
Image ID: 40558
Species: Wood Stork, Mycteria americana
Location: Harley Davidson Rookery, Brandon, Florida

Roseate Spoonbills at Alafia Bank Bird Sanctuary in Florida

admin — Sun, 12 May 2024 00:19:41 +0000

In March I spent some time in Florida to practice my bird photography. It was a fun and productive trip. In my experience, Florida has such a wealth of avian life that the photography is like shooting fish in a barrel. That is not to say my photographs are world class, since it’s true that incredible bird photographers make Florida their home and produce amazing images. But I was able to locate and make images that I am happy with of all the species I had on my want list and had a fun, relaxing time driving around doing it.

My first stop was to spend a few days trying to photograph Roseate Spoonbills (Platalea ajaja) at the Alafia Bank Bird Sanctuary near Tampa. Roseate Spoonbills are some of the most incredibly-colored birds in the world. Seeing them in flight in good light is a real treat. The Florida Audobon Society has a nice description of the Alafia Bank:

Richard T. Paul Alafia Bank Sanctuary is leased from and managed in collaboration with The Mosiac Company and Port Tampa Bay. The Alafia Bank (Bird Island to the east; Sunken Island to the west) is a Critical Wildlife Area as designated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Located in Hillsborough Bay at the mouth of the Alafia River, these two human-made islands were formed from spoil material when a channel into the Alafia River was dredged in the late 1920s. The islands were immediately important as bird nesting sites for gulls, terns, and skimmers. As shrubs and trees replaced low-lying vegetation, nesting herons, egrets, ibis, and later pelicans moved from the historic nesting site at Green Key. Each year, up to 18,000 nesting pairs of 16 to 20 species of birds nest on the Alafia Bank, making it one of the largest colonies in Florida and one of the most diverse colonies in the continental United States. Both islands and the surrounding water buffer are closed to public access year-round.

I used 840mm of lens (600 + 1.4) and at times probably could have used a little more. The island is off limits and one must wade in waist deep water a fair distance from the birds, so the longer the lens one uses there the better. I will be returning to pursue more Roseate Spoonbill photos next winter but am not sure that my next trip will include Alafia Bank. It was nice to finally visit the islands after having heard about them so many times but the photography was not quite what I hoped for. Maybe one more visit is called for, just to see if I have better luck. Who knows? Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40537
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40542
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40548
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40539
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

White Ibis in flight, Eudocimus albus, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40545
Species: White Ibis, Eudocimus albus
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40550
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40535
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight, Platalea ajaja, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40534
Species: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Brown pelican landing on water, Alafia Banks, Florida.
Image ID: 40544
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis
Location: Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, Tampa, Florida

Surfing Sea Lions of La Jolla, Winter 2024

admin — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 20:42:26 +0000

I have a long term project photographing bodysurfing sea lions. As usual, the winter season afforded me a few good opportunities to photograph the California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) bodysurfing waves at Boomer Beach near La Jolla Cove. In addition, there were unfortunately a few individuals on the point who were suffering from entanglement with fishing line or from laceration, probably caused by boat propellor (since the wound appears to be too clean on the edges for a shark attack). These are some of the better sea lions I made over the last few months. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

California Sea Lions Surfing Waves at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40278
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lion entangled in fishing line, deep laceration around neck, Point La Jolla.
Image ID: 40486
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Sea Lion Surfing a Big Wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40279
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Sea Lion Surfing a Big Wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40280
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California Sea Lions Surfing Waves at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40281
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Sea Lion Surfing a Big Wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40282
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California Sea Lion Resting in the Sun, on rocky reef.
Image ID: 40487
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California Sea Lions Resting in the Sun, on rocky reef.
Image ID: 40490
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lion entangled in fishing line, deep laceration around neck, Point La Jolla.
Image ID: 40493
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lion entangled in fishing line, deep laceration around neck, Point La Jolla.
Image ID: 40495
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lion surfing in a wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40497
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Sea Lion Surfing a Big Wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40283
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lions surfing in a wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40491
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lion surfing in a wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40496
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California sea lion surfing in a wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40500
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Sea Lion Surfing a Big Wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40289
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

California Sea Lions Surfing Waves at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40290
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

A California Sea Lion Surfing a Big Wave at La Jolla Cove, San Diego.
Image ID: 40291
Species: California Sea Lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: La Jolla, California

The Year of the Desert Lily: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflowers in Spring 2024

admin — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:03:03 +0000

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park occasionally has exceptional spring wildflower blooms. 2024 was one of those years, it was a nice, fairly typical bloom and not a Superbloom. The last Superbloom we had in Anza-Borrego was in 2017. (And no, 2019 was not a superbloom). But the 2024 bloom in Anza-Borrego did have one interesting distinguishing characteristic: widespread and robust blooms of Desert Lilies (Hesperocallis undulata). I have never seen so many at one time. Desert Lilies usually occur in rather sparse displays, but in 2024 I visited regions of the State Park where they could be found every few feet for as far as the eye could see. I set out to find the largest I could find, and indeed found one plant that had over 50 flowers most of which were in some stage of bloom. It was at least two feet high, more like a bush than a flower. Here are some of my favorite images from the nice bloom that occurred in Anza Borrego Desert State Park in 2024. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Desert Lily Blooming in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. While the Desert Lily is typically an uncommon or rare flower, in Spring 2024 it was present in enormous numbers. 2024 was the Year of the Desert Lily.
Image ID: 40293
Species: Desert Lily, Hesperocallis undulata
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Spring Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) and desert sunflower (yellow) near Henderson Canyon Road, Spring 2024.
Image ID: 40294
Species: Dune evening primrose, Desert Sunflower, Oenothera deltoides, Geraea canescens
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Desert Lily Blooming in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. While the Desert Lily is typically an uncommon or rare flower, in Spring 2024 it was present in enormous numbers. 2024 was the Year of the Desert Lily.
Image ID: 40295
Species: Desert Lily, Hesperocallis undulata
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Desert Sunflower Blooming at Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Spring 2024.
Image ID: 40296
Species: Desert Sunflower, Geraea canescens
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Dune Evening Primrose with Dew Drops, Anza Borrego Desert State Park.
Image ID: 40297
Species: Dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Spring Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road, Spring 2024.
Image ID: 40298
Species: Dune evening primrose, Oenothera deltoides
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Spring Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road, Spring 2024.
Image ID: 40299
Species: Sand verbena, Abronia villosa
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Spring Wildflowers Bloom in an Colorful Bouquet in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dune evening primrose (white) is mixed with sand verbena (purple) near Henderson Canyon Road, Spring 2024.
Image ID: 40303
Species: Sand verbena, Abronia villosa
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Desert Lily Blooming in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. While the Desert Lily is typically an uncommon or rare flower, in Spring 2024 it was present in enormous numbers. 2024 was the Year of the Desert Lily.
Image ID: 40304
Species: Desert Lily, Hesperocallis undulata
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Desert Lily Blooming in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. While the Desert Lily is typically an uncommon or rare flower, in Spring 2024 it was present in enormous numbers. 2024 was the Year of the Desert Lily.
Image ID: 40305
Species: Desert Lily, Hesperocallis undulata
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Desert Sunflower Blooming Anza Borrego Desert State Park.
Image ID: 40308
Species: Desert Sunflower, Geraea canescens
Location: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California

Warblers, Whimbrels and Hummingbirds on the Coast Walk in La Jolla

admin — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 16:15:23 +0000

I recently acquired a 600mm lens which I plan to use with 1.4x teleconverter often, probably for birds much of the time I suspect, and have been out practicing with it. The combination is too long for pelicans and sea lions, so I have been seeking smaller subjects. This time of year the Coast Walk in La Jolla is a great place for hummingbirds, and lately I have seen a few warblers there as well. These small birds are damn hard to photograph as they move around erratically, so its good practice. Here are a few favorites I shot recently, most with teleconverter (effective 840/5.6). Cheers, and thanks for looking!

Whimbrel Foraging Amidst Spring Wildflowers on Coast Walk, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40256
Species: Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus
Location: La Jolla, California

Orange-Crowned Warbler Amid Spring Flowers, Coast Trail, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40243
Species: Orange-Crowned Warbler, Leiothlypis celata
Location: La Jolla, California

Orange-Crowned Warbler Amid Spring Flowers, Coast Trail, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40249
Species: Orange-Crowned Warbler, Leiothlypis celata
Location: La Jolla, California

A perfect Brown Pelican Head Throw with Distant Ocean in Background, bending backwards, stretching its neck and gular pouch, winter adult breeding plumage coloration.
Image ID: 40252
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California

Rufous Hummingbird Brilliant Gorget Display While Perched, Coast Walk, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40260
Species: Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus
Location: La Jolla, California

Orange-Crowned Warbler Amid Spring Flowers, Coast Trail, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40250
Species: Orange-Crowned Warbler, Leiothlypis celata
Location: La Jolla, California

Audobon's Yellow-Rumped Warbler in Flowering Aloe, Coast Walk, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40255
Species: Audobons Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Setophaga audoboni
Location: La Jolla, California

Whimbrel Foraging Amidst Spring Wildflowers on Coast Walk, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40258
Species: Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus
Location: La Jolla, California

Rufous Hummingbird with Open Beak Perched on Branch, Coast Walk, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40266
Species: Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus
Location: La Jolla, California

Rufous Hummingbird Brilliant Gorget Display While Perched, Coast Walk, La Jolla.
Image ID: 40263
Species: Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus
Location: La Jolla, California

Finding Leafy Sea Dragons at Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia

admin — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:22:14 +0000

While cruising around South Australia and Kangaroo Island, we stopped at a couple jetties. I think of a jetty as a breakwater formed of large bolders or rocks, but in Australia a jetty can be a wharf or pier. The jetties we visited are both famous for hosting a wide variety of sea life including the Leafy Sea Dragon (Phycodurus eques). I honestly had not given much thought to these creatures in planning for the trip, in fact I did not even bring a macro lens (life is too short to shoot macro). But after a few days on the boat it was clear that I was the lone exception: everyone else had leafy sea dragons high on their list of subjects to see firsthand. Merry and Phil even flew to Adelaide a few days early and made several leafy dives to ensure they succeeded in finding them. Our first jetty stop was to the Edithburgh Jetty on the west side of the St. Vincent Gulf. The conditions sucked: it was rainy, windy and the water visibility was about 2′. My back was giving me trouble so I didn’t dive at all that day, and the timing was lucky since everyone else said I didn’t miss anything. The captain had a feeling we would have better protection from the wind in Rapid Bay, on the southeastern side of the gulf, so we made an overnight crossing. And indeed the conditions were gorgeous. We had blue skies, warm air and pretty clean water for two days. Two of the M/V Rodney Fox crew even drove down from Adelaide to meet us. They had been diving the Rapid Bay Jetty a lot recently and knew where the leafy sea dragons were spending their time, so we had that advantage. Each day we made a couple long dives in about 30′-40′ of water. We did not have to make the swim from shore to the end of the jetty, instead getting shuttled in a zodiac from our very comfortable accommodations on the big boat to the end of the jetty. Super easy ride, then plop into the water and drop down amid the jetty pilings. The pilings are covered with life, so much that I could see spending several more days diving Rapid Bay simply for the other creatures inhabiting the pier. But for the two days I had, I decided to make finding leafy sea dragons on my own (no help from crew) a goal and pretty much ignored all the other creatures around me. I hovered over the bottom, barely moving, just staring at patches of kelp. The leafies were initially tough to find since they mimic the kelp so well. Eventually I got the hang of it. The idea is to find a blade of kelp the moves differently than the actual kelp, and there’s your sea dragon. Rapid Bay was a relaxing and enjoyable few days and I hope to get back there again sometime to check out all the other life on the jetty. Cheers, and thanks for looking!

The leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) is found on the southern and western coasts of Australia. Its extravagent appendages serve only for camoflage, since it has a nearly-invisible dorsal fin that propels it slowly through the water. The leafy sea dragon is the marine emblem of South Australia.
Image ID: 39137
Species: Leafy seadragon, Phycodurus eques
Location: Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia

Rapid Bay Jetty Aerial Photo, South Australia. The now-derelict jetty (wharf, pier) at Rapid Bay is famous for great SCUBA diving, including opportunities to see leafy sea dragons.
Image ID: 39210
Location: Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia

Rapid Bay Jetty Underwater Photo, South Australia.
Image ID: 39219
Location: Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia

The leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) is found on the southern and western coasts of Australia. Its extravagent appendages serve only for camoflage, since it has a nearly-invisible dorsal fin that propels it slowly through the water. The leafy sea dragon is the marine emblem of South Australia.
Image ID: 39357
Species: Leafy seadragon, Phycodurus eques
Location: Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia