Especially during the winter bird migration! This is my second trip to this huge refuge north of Sacramento. The first time was at the "beginning" of the migration down the Great Pacific Flyway. The idea was to explore how the refuge changes every couple of months.
And boy, it did change quite a bit! Not only the types of birds and mammals I found, but also the numbers of them. Not to mention the incredible landscapes of course.
To view my January visit focusing on the Hawks and Bald Eagle! that I saw, click HERE!
But back to the present... After beginning the auto tour (aside from my stop to see the bald eagle flying and to take some great scenic pictures of turkey vultures) the first beauty I saw was this elegant Gadwall (or American Wigeon. I suck at identification.). I was lucky enough to catch him taking flight!
I get so excited about the littlest things, I swear, but I've been trying to get a great photo of some pintails. I think these two fit the bill (pun intended!).
First photo I love because you can see the way these beautiful ducks have bills that are striped black and blue! There are so many intricate details that you just don't realize or see before you get into all this birding business!
Second photo I love because these beautiful birds were basically posing for me and in this shot you can clearly see their beautiful markings, elegant bodies, and long pointy tails!
I was so blessed to get a ton of really great closeups!
It seemed like the wildlife wasn't quite so skittish on this particular morning for some reason.
Even the ubiquitous American Coots, which usually flee to the middle of the pond at first approach, were content to stay on the bank beside my car while I snapped away.
Unlike my previous visit, I didn't see very many egrets and herons. In fact, I think I saw two egrets and only got a shot at this one.
And this female or juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron was the only one I saw (although to be fair, these blend in so well that there could have been more hanging around that I missed).
That's not to say everything was hanging out by the road though. The ponds were definitely very populated in the middle as well. Including some of my favorites - Northern Shovelers.
And White-fronted Geese.
But one of my favorite moments of the day was the flock of Snow and Ross' Geese that were hanging out on the side of the road. They refused to move! Even going so far as to block the road for a little while. And there were even some beautiful "blue" juvenile white morph Snow Geese.
Snow Goose closeup. Note the "grin patch" and more elongated head than the Ross' Geese. The orange is basically staining from mud, etc.
This little guy on the left holds a special place in my heart.
There are dark morph Snow Geese, or "Blue Geese", but they have white heads with dark bodies. That's why I think these are most likely juveniles. So gorgeous!
And this is a Ross' Goose. Note the head is smaller and more circular. They are smaller in stature as well and they commonly have a gray base to their pink bill, which may form caruncles with age such as this guy.
I was also happy to see several Bufflehead ducks floating about pretty close. The light was hard to work with for me, but I made do.
I had to lighten this photo and, in turn, it made the iridescence of the male's feathers more pronounced. I promise you that you can see this with the naked eye when the light hits them just right! Feathers are amazing!
I find this photo really interesting. You can see a difference in the white feathers on the head and the black feathers around the neck.
It appears as if the white feathers are flatter; the black feathers almost look like an old guy's hairstyle.
Haha!
Moving on...Ruddy duck looking at me.
And another Northern Shoveler. But this picture is super interesting due to the blinking duck's eye. Looks out of this world with the line through it.
This was a first for me...A Pied-billed Grebe with a mohawk! Left-coast punk rock, that's his scene.
Even in January, there are more than just waterfowl at the Refuge! There were a couple of trees filled to the brim with beautiful, red-headed house finches.
Coot bootie
Western meadowlark
One thing I love about the Wildlife Refuges is that there are always magnificent landscapes. I always love trying to capture the incredible beauty of these areas. My next post is going to cover most of the ones I took on this visit, but I couldn't resist adding two to this post.
Snow Geese with Vulture Trees
Snow Caps and Snow Geese
A note on the above picture: Those mountains are the south-central portion of the Coastal Range, and I don't often see then with snow on the top. But this year? Yay! And boo, because now we're getting too much water. In fact, as I type this, I-5 just south of this Refuge is closed due to flooding. All the surrounding farmland looks like rice paddies. Which it is not.
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| Courtesy of Sacramento Bee |
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| Courtesy of Redding Record Searchlight |
Well, so as not to end on that somber note, I'll finish up with photos of happy American Goldfinch and White-crowned Sparrows feeding on the feeders in the garden next to the visitor center.
Nom nom nom
I pray that everyone stays safe and relatively dry out there! See you next post.
xoxo
