I am a bird watcher. A fledgling birder so to speak. See what I did there? Just in case, here's the definition of fledgling from Mirriam-Webster:
fledgling
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noun, often attributive fledg·ling \ˈflej-liŋ\
Popularity: Top 40% of words
Simple Definition of fledgling
- : a young bird that has just become able to fly
- : someone or something that is getting started in a new activity
I have always loved nature and taking photos of birds, but I didn't really feel the excitement of trying to identify birds by their looks or sounds until last year when I happened upon the Merced National Wildlife Refuge.
It all started last February when I head about the Firefall (not waterfall) at Yosemite. I planned to head for the hills to see if I could capture this cool phenomenon (along with approximately 10,000 other people) and was looking for other things I could do en route.
The Merced refuge seemed like a cool thing to see, so I planned to spend several hours there driving their auto tour route and observing birds.
It was, frankly, amazing.
It blew my mind in large part because of the thousands of Snow and Ross' geese that were wintering on the preserve.
You can see my adventures and all of the amazing creatures at these links:
Imagine my dismay when I started doing my birder homework and learned that I had pretty much missed the migration. So this year, I've been waiting excitedly for the Great Pacific Flyway to come alive with birds traveling South for the winter.
October 1st is very early to get many of the travelers, but I thought it would be fun to visit my local preserve , Cosumnes River Preserve, and document how it comes alive over the next several months. There were birds to be seen although nothing to crow about (ha!).
And now, on to the sightings:
Greater Yellowlegs (or maybe Lesser Yellowlegs - I'm new at this!)
Blue-winged Teals in flight!
Another Yellowlegs (there was a large population of these).
In later photos, you can actually see the yellow legs.
Oh I FLOVE this picture SO much! (For those who don't know, FLove = F*cking Love.)
This is a Black-necked Stilt just taking flight.
Next we have a Great Egret. You can see the unfocused version of this guy in the bottom of the picture of flying Teals above.
A "V" of Canada Geese were flying in.
I didn't know what this bird was last time I saw him and I still don't know. :-(
The Black-necked Stilts were very active on this day! I got a few good shots of them flying around.
And this little Yellowlegs was showing off his wingspread for me. Thanks buddy!
Unidentified ducks with many sleeping Yellowlegs.
Another photo that I just FLove!
Still no yellow legs though!
Hard to see in all of these, but there are definitely Green-winged Teals and the reddish ducks are called Cinnamon Teals.
Cinnamon Teal showing off it's wing patches.
And more great shots of flying Black-necked Stilts with their bubblegum-pink legs.
FLOVE!!
And, FINALLY! A great shot of a Yellowlegs' yellow legs!
And I believe this is a juvenile Killdeer.
No matter what time of year, you will ALWAYS spot the wide wings of Turkey Vultures soaring over the fields. The light caught this guy just right for an amazing shot of those wings.
My friendly (or maybe not so friendly) Egret winged over the field as well, probably in search of waters with less photographers and more fish!
And that was my cue to head back to my care. But of course I had to stop and smell the flowers (and take a few shots too!) on my way.
(Warning: Flower in this photo is much larger than it actually appeared.)
But these tall daisies were actually really impressive!
Next stop will be from the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge which isn't in Sacramento at all. But it's huge. And had beaucoup birds there! Yay! And now I'm off to edit those photos. Until next time!
You dream, you dare and and you fly.”
― Israelmore Ayivor
xoxo
Nikon D3300
