Raptors of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
In my previous post from beautiful Redwood National and State Parks, I mentioned that my original plan was to go to the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge in search of bald eagles. I didn't find any in the Redwoods, but I scored a MAJOR victory when I ventured to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge two weeks later!
I just had a feeling...I really did have a feeling that I might be lucky enough to find a bald eagle flying closer to home! But I wasn't super confident when I set out. Luckily, just after I started the auto tour, I saw a large group of people pulled over at one of the "park and stretch" areas and they appeared to be looking at something specific.
I took a look at their group, which had some pretty powerful-looking spotting scopes, and pulled over too. I was trying to eavesdrop
and figure out what was so damn interesting!
It looked like they were looking at a tree full of turkey vultures to me. And I could hear some debate amongst the group members as to what was in this far away tree. So I dutifully took out my camera and tripod, and decided at the very least it was a good exercise to compare photos from my 300mm lens and my 500mm lens.
You can see the different in distance (which was quite a distance!) and the clarity is similar. That could be due to the very high contrast on this bright but foggy in spots morning.
Those are not black and white photos by the way. That is the view to the naked eye as well as the camera lens.
Anyhoo, while we were all standing around staring at turkey vultures drying their wings in trees, a sudden disturbance about a mile down the road captured our attention.
Now on my way to the refuge, as I was driving up I-5, I had seen that the fields on either side of the highway were filled with flocks and flocks of geese. Snow, Ross, and White-fronted geese along with various other duck friends.
Well, as we were photographing the vultures, all of those flocks rose as one into the air. One of the older gentlemen with the huge spotting scope, turned his vision that way and stated, "Oh, that's got to be an eagle hunting!"
Excitement!
His next words were even more exciting! "Yep! There he is...flying just above the farthest tree line." With his helpful words I was able to swing my 300mm lens in the right direction. I could just see a very large bird winging it's way behind the fleeing flocks. You can see the large bird just to the right of the tallest tree in the picture.
To be quite honest, I could not really discern the markings of a bald eagle through my lens. But there was no question that the bird was very big and not acting in the same manner as a turkey vulture.
The knowledgeable gentleman was going on about wingtips pointing certain ways and other items that sounded Greek to me...
But there was no question as the bird got a little bit closer and I could just make out the large white head!
He flew to and fro, lazily floating behind the flocks. It was funny because he almost looked like he was just enjoying his power as king of the sky instead of actively hunting.
It's amazing how much bigger he is than the geese he's "chasing"!
After a bit we lost sight of him and it was back to more "mundane" things, like hawks and vultures!
After the excitement of the bald eagle, I turned my attention to another group of trees that members of the group were speculating might contain an eagle. But all I could see were several turkey vultures and large hawks.
It made for a cool picture though! How many raptors can you spot?
I decided to pack up and head up the road. But almost immediately pulled over when I saw an "out-of-bounds" road lined with telephone poles. I love this photo! I call it "Telephone Poles and Turkey Vultures".
Next raptor I saw was a gorgeous Northern Harrier.
(I think...you know my raptor identification skills are pretty bad.)
She was certainly exhibiting Northern Harrier flight patterns anyway.
Next came this beauty eyeing me from behind his tree branches.
I'm not even going to venture a guess haha.
Okay, maybe one. Red tail?
Okay, maybe one. Red tail?
Then, for awhile, I didn't see any raptors. Just beautiful geese, ducks, herons, and the like. But after passing the 2nd park and stretch where they have a big platform, I spotted something sitting at the tip top of a very tall tree which appeared to be right near the auto tour!
I stopped and broke out the 500mm (sans tripod - so I knew this wouldn't be perfect) because I didn't want to miss out if this bald eagle (maybe THE bald eagle - I can't be sure) took to the sky again.
Then I carefully made my way down the road, stopping to take a photo only of birds that were new to me or if the photo just seemed too good. I kept my eye on the prize, checking the top of the tall tree while hoping and praying he wouldn't take to flight!
This is a bit closer and taken with the 300mm. I love how he seems to be watching the snow geese flying above him.
Periodically, I stopped to take a photo of him out of my passenger side window, just in case he flew.
Closer and closer!
Better and better!
At this point, there were about 4 cars parked on the sides of the road pretty close to his tree (including one SUV with a sun roof and huge lens poking out of it! No fair!!). But although he was obviously looking at us, he didn't seem at all worried ABOUT us.
I actually had to move from a very close position to let another car by and so my next shot is practically under his tree looking up.
I pulled a little further still and then he was behind me.
I was still kind of below the tree and the angle in the road allowed me to take the photo out of the driver's side window. But the lighting was shite. Still SOOOOOO AWESOME!
At this point quite a few cars were gathering and I didn't want to stress him too much, so I drove on.
I got one more cool shot of his tree with him in the tip top from the other side of the pond.
Ah. Maze. Zing! #blessed
I passed another hawk sitting in a tree. This one was looking right at me and made for a very cool shot as well. Cooper's Hawk maybe? What pretty markings she has!
And now...not for the squeamish...
Have you ever heard of a hawk throwing a pellet? Well, a pellet is the mass of undigestable parts of prey that gathers in a raptor's glandular stomach after a meal. I've heard of it, but I've never seen a hawk-or any other bird for that matter-actually cast one.
On this day I did. It is quite a process, much like a cat throwing up. It seems to take quite a bit of effort on the part of the animal. The next six photos are a sequence of a hawk casting a pellet.
These six shots were not quick shutter release. This process took the bird about 4-7 minutes and to be honest, I didn't know at first what was going on. Unfortunately I can't see the pellet itself in any of my photos so I must have missed it coming out of the birds mouth. :(
Most raptors and many other birds cast pellets from what I understand after doing a little research. It gets rid of what they can't digest such as feathers, fur, bones, and even non organic material like a bird band. And it also helps to clean the bird out on the way up! Many people dissect these pellets to find out what a bird ate, where it's been, etc.
Pretty cool and informative. Definitely not something you see every day!
Well, there you have my Raptor Adventures at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in January! Stay tuned for the next installment featuring some amazing closeup shots of various species.
I had a really great day!
I had a really great day!
xoxo
