Last post shared the ducks and geese of the refuge. Honestly, there were so many birds out there (and other wonders) that I'm having to divide them into groups. This post will acquaint you with both the fearsome raptors and the sweetest musicmakers on the Reserve.
I love hawks. There is nothing so graceful as seeing raptors floating on the currents, looking lazy and as if they don't have a care in the world. We have several types of hawks in Northern California and, frankly, I have a hard time telling them apart. So I'm not going to attempt it if I'm not sure. I will identify those birds that I recognize.
The same goes for the songbirds. Most are swallows, I believe. With a few other types mixed in which I will identify if I can.
These first seven photos are not actually on the Reserve. I printed out directions so I wouldn't use my phone battery (since I currently don't have a car charger). They took me the back way through the boonies. Literally over roads that were half dirt; the 'paved' sections were half potholes.
And every sign was full of holes from what I assume are guns. I guess there's not much else to do out there. You'll see what I mean in one of the pictures.
So between the wonderful roads and the rains we have been blessed with, I almost got my car stuck in the mud. I had to do what seemed like a 20-point turn in order to avoid mud and getting stuck. I had basically given up hope of making the Reserve because I thought these were the directions. Thanks Mapquest! :-)
So I took shots of the birds that I could find, thinking I was not going to be getting to the actual destination. I'm not mad though. I love these photos!!
This next photo is a good illustration of the local pass time...
Don't trespass birdies!! Are you insane?
I harassed these two poor hawks. They had a nest in a big tree and would let me get pretty close. But when they felt I was too close, they would take flight and circle around me. I kind of feared for my life to be honest.
But that's what I get. As soon as I drove away, at least one of them would return to the tree.
Right next to the hawk tree was a smaller tree filled with little songbirds. Such beautiful sounds! They didn't seem threatened by the hawk family at all.
So I finally realized that there was a different way to the Reserve. I had printed out directions from the Reserve to Yosemite since I was going there next to see the Horsetail Falls look like lava. I gave up hope and started to head East. But it suddenly hit me, that the directions were not the same.
I pulled over and re-read them and realized that THIS was the main route. Mapquest had given me different directions since I was coming from the North. But the main route was further south off Highway 99. Yay!
I made it in and began the five-mile auto loop. The first birds I saw were swallows and coots. And then a gorgeous great egret! And then, as I was taking photos of the egret out of the driver's window, I became aware of a gorgeous hawk observing me from the passenger side.
Then it startled the crap out of me by flying straight at me! There is no way this picture was going to be clear because I was scared. haha
There was a huge tour bus coming up behind me (which may be why the hawk flew away) so I decided to move along. Next up I found these little masked fellows. So cute!
And this beautiful red-winged blackbird couple.
I talked about the photo blind in my last post. So I won't tell the story again. :-)
I believe this is a female Yellow-rumped Warbler. #Love
And I believe this is a male Yellow-Rumped Warbler.
Yellow seemed to be the color of the day! This is a Western Meadowlark.
Last, but not least...this looks like a small bird, but is actually a hawk. A small hawk which is either a female or juvenile American Kestrel or perhaps a Merlin or Sharp-shinned hawk. It's hard to tell, really, but I think it's one of the three.
It was very high in a tree and you aren't supposed to get out of your car and of COURSE it was on the passenger side. So this photo required a lot of bending and twisting to try to get a clear shot.
On that note, we'll close for the day. Stay tuned for a slew of long-legged birds!
xoxo
