California Newt in Hetch Hetchy. Adorable and beautiful, the California Newt appears in profusion after a rain and early in the morning. They can migrate for miles and return to their breeding grounds (apparently using the earth's magnetic field). Their bright orange colors serve as a warning signal to predators. In fact, the newt's skin secrets a deadly neurotoxin similar to that found in pufferfish. The only animal known to eat these amphibians are certain types of garter snakes which are fairly immune to the toxins. However, like most amphibians around the world, California Newts appear to be declining in numbers. While the causes of decline of many species of frog and toad are well documented, the newts remain poorly studied by comparison. Copyright © 2008 James McGrew.

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A selection of wildlife in their habitat, most in Yosemite National Park. All images available for commercial licensing and fine art prints up to 24x36 inches. Prints available as museum/exhibition quality fine giclees on 100% cotton rag art paper, or exhibition fiber paper, signed and numbered editions in a range of sizes from 8x10-17x22. Unsigned, open editions, of some images, matting and framing also available.

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James McGrew > Bald Eagle Takes Flight on Independence Day. ©2011, James McGrew. While spending July 4th with my family at the Lake Grove Swim Park in Lake Oswego, I focused on an osprey on the top of this Douglas Fir. However, it took off when this bald eagle swooped into the tree. Onlookers kept approaching me and asking why I was laying on the ground with a long white lens aiming up into the sky. The Eagle was mostly hidden in the shade of the upper branches and undetected by most observers. Eventually the eagle took off again and soared out across the lake, giving me a brief opportunity to take this photograph.

James McGrew > Clark's Nutcracker eating seeds from a Whitebark Pine cone. Vogelsang High Sierra Camp, Yosemite, CA. The Clark's Nutcracker's obnoxious yet melodic calls fill the High Sierra air in summer: a comforting sound to anyone who has spent much time in the upper elevations. These corvids, exhibiting ashtonishing intelligence like their cousins (ravens, crows, jays), ultimately provide the foundation for the Whitebark pine subalpine ecosystems. Unlike most pine cones which open to reveal winged seeds that disperse on the wind, the whitebark cones remain sealed until the seeds typically die. Instead, the massive, nutritious seeds remain cemented into massive cones shielded by pitch and tannins. During the month of August, the cones ripen and the nutcrackers blast the cones with powerful long bills and delicately remove each seed for consumption or storage in a sublingual pouch. The nutcrackers fly off, bury the seeds for later harvest as their primary food supply throughout the year. Through triangulation, visual cues and memory, the birds recover as many as thirty thousand seed caches over the course of a year. However, they leave some seeds buried which ultimately germinate and start new pines.

Without the nutcrackers, whitebark pines cannot reproduce. Without the trees, the nutcrackers can't survive. As a result of the perfect symbiosis, an entire ecosystem thrives. Yosemite's beauty blossoms out of the most complex interrelationships. Copyright, © 2008, James McGrew

James McGrew > Common Raven on Sentinel Dome (Half Dome in the background). Scientists continually produce new studies expounding on the remarkable intelligence of these fascinating birds. In terms of solving problems and creating tools, adult ravens typically score about the same as an average six-year old human child. Copyright © 2008 James McGrew.

James McGrew > Yellow Bellied Marmot, Townsley Lake, Yosemite National Park, CA. Copyright © 2004 James McGrew.
Marmots, bearing resemblance to their cousins known as groundhogs, are large rodents of the middle and higher Sierra. For a special anecdotal story about these interesting creatures, please see: http://jamesmcgrewfineart.com/works/59475/a-view-from-mt-hoffmann

James McGrew > Great Blue Heron Takes Flight. Merced River/Yosemite Valley. Copyright © 2006 James McGrew.

James McGrew > Coopers Hawk. Copyright, ©2011 James McGrew

I took my daughters for a walk to the grocery store (via a 2 mi. nature trail) and happened to carry the Canon 300 f2.8L IS just in case I saw any cool birds, flowers or shots of my kids. Sure enough, in addition to some beautiful spring forest flowers and of course cute pictures of my daughters, on the way back from the store, I heard this Cooper's Hawk calling overhead. I moved around the tree until I found a suitable view. A half dozen people wandered directly below this beautiful raptor without even noticing its existence high in the canopy. Its amazing what we sometimes find in our own neighborhoods when we simply slow down and observe.

James McGrew > Two year old female Black bear, Yosemite Valley. Copyright © 2009 James McGrew. Although called a black bear (Ursus americanus) and usually black in the darker forests of the northern and Eastern U.S. However, in Sierra's sunny, open forests of cinnamon trunked trees, brown and golden hues of grasses and under story (except in the lush greenery of spring) they blend into their environment with a range of colors most often including blond, bleached blond with dark roots, red/ginger, and brunette. This young bear forages for insects in a rotting log. Bears acquire most of their protein and fat from insect larvae such as beetle grubs, termites, ants etc.

James McGrew > Red-winged black bird calling. Copyright ©2011, James McGrew.

James McGrew > Southern Alligator Lizard, in upper Tenaya Canyon. Copyright, ©2008 James McGrew

James McGrew > Female Western Bluebird, Dundee HIlls, OR. Copyright, ©2009 James McGrew Western Bluebirds have been extirpated from most of their former habitat largely due to the introduction of the european starling which nests in similar cavities. They are monitored and nest boxes are constructed to try to bring back populations.

California Newt in Hetch Hetchy. Adorable and beautiful, the California Newt appears in profusion after a rain and early in the morning. They can migrate for miles and return to their breeding grounds (apparently using the earth's magnetic field). Their bright orange colors serve as a warning signal to predators. In fact, the newt's skin secrets a deadly neurotoxin similar to that found in pufferfish. The only animal known to eat these amphibians are certain types of garter snakes which are fairly immune to the toxins. However, like most amphibians around the world, California Newts appear to be declining in numbers. While the causes of decline of many species of frog and toad are well documented, the newts remain poorly studied by comparison. Copyright © 2008 James McGrew.

James McGrew > California Newt in Hetch Hetchy. Adorable and beautiful, the California Newt appears in profusion after a rain and early in the morning. They can migrate for miles and return to their breeding grounds (apparently using the earth's magnetic field). Their bright orange colors serve as a warning signal to predators. In fact, the newt's skin secrets a deadly neurotoxin similar to that found in pufferfish. The only animal known to eat these amphibians are certain types of garter snakes which are fairly immune to the toxins. However, like most amphibians around the world, California Newts appear to be declining in numbers. While the causes of decline of many species of frog and toad are well documented, the newts remain poorly studied by comparison. Copyright © 2008 James McGrew.

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Copyright ©1995-2013 James McGrew. All rights reserved. Images may not be reproduced in any manner without express written consent. To purchase prints or for commercial licensing, please contact James McGrew.

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