Winter

Over the past year, I started collecting notes about wildlife species in California, when they’re migrating, active, mating, or anything else interesting. It’s helping me learn about their habits and giving me an idea of what to focus on month-to-month. There’s always something seasonal to look for.

Over the past three months, my main focuses have been elephant seals and burrowing owls. With each of them, I decided to focus on adding new behaviors to my images to build my portfolio. It creates a new challenge and is better than driving around aimlessly, hoping to spot something nearby. With burrowing owls, of course, that’s exactly how it started. Thankfully, I could spot two tiny creatures relatively quickly and check in on them over the following weeks.

Spotting burrowing owls is incredibly difficult, but a combination of actively looking—scanning fields while the grass level was still relatively low—and getting lucky with some movement to draw the eye seemed to help. And they often return to the same spots on an annual basis, so that gives you a starting point for next year. I didn’t catch any hunting or mating, but I photographed one in flight and active outside the burrow, giving me some fresh images.

Elephant seals offer all kinds of opportunities: fighting, mating, swimming, giving birth, and weaners becoming independent. I spent many days with them, from the initial hauls on land through the mating cycle and gradual return to the ocean, and I was fortunate to photograph all kinds of behavior. I’m excited to build out my collection of images, and hopefully, next year, post-pandemic, we’ll get back to Año Nuevo to see a different group.

Now that winter is officially over, I can focus my attention on the animals I think will be most interesting in spring.