Snakes are Wildlife too!

Snakes are wildlife too! I have seen a few snakes out this Spring season so far.

Rattlesnake on Cowles Mountain





Red Racer in Anza Borrego Desert State Park



Gopher Snake Near Carrizo Gorge


Gohper Snake in San Dieguito River Valley

Jumping Spider (Phidippus) With Red Butt

Found this Jumping Spider (Phidippus) with a red butt in my wood pile one day. I think this may be a female but I am not sure. It is a very cool looking spider for sure.

Baby Opossum Trapped By My Dog

My dog managed to find and trap a baby opossum in our backyard the other night. He wasn't much bigger than one of those big yellow softballs. If you have never heard an opossum make noise before I can tell you they hiss loud and fiercely. This little guy did not like the flash from the camera...at all. I took a few pictures of him and then fenced off the area so my dog would not be able to bother him. He was gone the next morning, safe and sound.

Great Horned Owls ABDSP

On a recent trip to Anza Borrego Desert State Park with my son we spotted a large moving mass a few hundred feet up the rocks of a hillside. I pulled over and looked a little harder, turned out to be a Great Horned Owl. A male I believe. He was pretty far away and my 300mm lens just couldn't pull him in very close. As I was taking pictures of him my son saw two more owls, these were whiter in color and I believe the young owlets. They seemed to stay mostly hidden, only poking their heads out occasionally. The male flew off to a nearby crevice in the rocks where I believe the nest to have been and the young owlets finally emerged from hiding for a couple of pictures. After a few shots we left them alone and moved on.

White Squirrels

A day up at Chollas Lake, we saw some baby white squirrels, I don't remember seeing white squirrels before.









OK, a couple of Geese shots also

Bighorn Sheep Sighting in Anza Borrego Desert State Park ABDSP

Me and Ol' Zeek were out panning for some nuggets near Henderson canyon this last weekend when I noticed something off in the distance



Ol' Zeek is a pretty good guy but he wasn't having much luck with the gold on this trip



I zoomed my camera all the way in to see what the two figures off in the distance were



I still had one more zoom level to use



Turned out there was a whole family of Bighorns out that morning



I think Spring may have been in the air as there seemed to be two males fighting over the cute one in the middle



This poor little feller lost his mommy



But it all was good in the end



Well, Ol' Zeek and me had to get back to work before the boss man found us horsing around



It's a long day out in the fields



Ol' Zeek sure knows how to pack the horse good



See more photos of the amazing Sky Art Sculptures on my photography blog and also the official Galleta Meadows Website