Legs for Days! It's Leg Day at the Merced Wildlife Refuge. 2/20/16

And we're back.  One of the major draws of the Merced National Wildlife Refuge is that it sits in the migratory path of fairly large groups of Lesser Sandhill Cranes. These large, gray birds join herons, stilts, and egrets (tons of egrets!) in the long-legged group of birds that make the reserve their winter home. 

Right around the first turn of the auto loop, I encountered this beauty hunting. This is a Great Egret, non-breeding (if my searches don't deceive me). 

Success!  He caught something.  Honestly, he may be a breeder...the way to tell is that they have extra "feathery" plumage, which he seems to have some of.  I'll let you decide. 

I love this black and white of him and his foot.  Love I say. 

Warning, this is not a good photo.  But because of that stupid tour bus behind me (see previous post if you need more detail), I felt rushed.  So it's blurry.  

But this was the only Cattle Egret that I saw all day.  These cute little guys don't have long legs like their cousins, but since he's a member of the family, this is where he fits. 

This next group of photos also has my eternal love and devotion.  I just love the birds in them, Black-necked Stilts, but I also love the water and reflections.  Bella!

Adorable bubble-gum stick legs!

Below is a Great Blue Heron.  Slightly blurry.  *sigh* This guy was one of two that I saw, but neither was very keen about having their picture taken and wouldn't stand still.  I really need an autofocus zoom lens!!

After leaving the marsh area, I got my first glimpse of the Lesser Sandhill Cranes.  You can see them in the next photo in the field under the cloud of geese. 

These graceful creatures were also a bit on the shy side.  The Refuge tells you that most birds and animals are used to cars and, by staying in your car, it acts as a blind.  These guys did not like my car.  They walked slowly but assuredly away from my vehicle, even if I parked for awhile.  

These three did fly in front of my car though, from one field to the next. 

Here one comes into land with his friends. 

With their scarlet masks, grey and ochre feathers, and long legs and necks, they are quite striking. 

The cranes shared this field with a plethora of ground squirrels.  More about them in my next post along with other mammals and the landscape of the Refuge.

The last long-legged birds sighted on the auto loop that day were more Great Egrets.  And when I say more, I mean more!  Lots more.  Entire fields full.  It was so cool!

Looked like the latest crop!

I think that was the bachelor's field.  They all looked pretty sleek...no wispy breeding plumage in sight. 

So much fun seeing all these wonderful creatures!  Some of these birds, especially the Great Blue Heron, look like dinosaur throwbacks.  It's just amazing that they evolved from two-legged, meat-eating dinos and still have some resemblance to them.  

As Spock would say...Fascinating.  Yes, I am a nerd at heart. 

xoxo

Hunting and Singing - Merced National Wildlife Reserve Hawks & Songbirds 2/20/16

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

Merced National Wildlife Refuge - Duck Duck Goose - 2/20/16

I love birds.  They bustle about their business, no matter the weather, and sing while doing it.  And the feathers...can we talk about the feathers? Fab. U. Less.  And there are so, so many varieties of these beautiful creatures.  So I've been a tiny bit obsessed about learning about different birds and then seeing them. Or vice versa.  Whatever works.  :-)

So I had planned to head to Merced to visit the National Wildlife Refuge.  February is a great time for this due to all the migratory birds that visit the refuge over the winter.

It was so rewarding.  I saw so many birds.  And some varieties that I had not seen up close before.  There were so many birds there that I'm breaking up my visit into categories.  This one is all about the ducks, geese and other floaty birds.

This beautiful boy is a Northern Shoveler.  But!  It's kind of rare in that it has a purplish-blue head instead of the more normal green.

Some people claim that the purple-blue is a trick of the light, but I assure you...that was not the case. I watched this duck swim around for quite awhile.  His head remained uniformly colored no matter which way he turned or dove.  There were a couple others with blue heads too.

Now these cute guys - or should I say coot guys - are pretty common in almost every waterway here in Northern Cali.

Cute American Coots!

You know the old saying "let sleeping dogs lie"?  Well that goes for sleeping ducks too.  Especially if they are sleeping in a Wildlife Refuge.  Here we have a sleeping mix of Mallards, Shovelers and American Black Ducks.

Now these two got me really excited!  (Yes, I'm a dweeb...I'm aware.)

This is a pair of Cinnamon Teal Ducks.  You can see how they got their name!  Well, except for the Teal park.  I don't understand that at all.

To understand the next several pictures, let me explain about the Merced National Wildlife Refuge.  There are three walking trails from .5 to 1.5 miles and a 5 mile auto loop.  I was dealing with an hairline fracture in one of my toes and wasn't supposed to be walking much.  So the auto loop was perfect.

You drive along slowly, stopping when you see a bird that you want to watch and/or photograph.  That seemed to happen about every 15 feet for me.  haha  There are also a couple of viewing platforms that you can walk up (one at the main entrance and one midway through the auto loop).

Also midway through the auto loop is a photo blind.  One car at a time can park and up to two people can walk down a road onto a peninsula in the marsh.  There sits a "blind" which is basically a rectangle with fencing around the outside which is covered with fake leaves.  In it are stools.

I was lucky enough to happen upon it when it was vacant, so I took advantage.

This is not a goose or a duck BTW.

So, as I was walking down the road heading back to my car, the noise from the marsh increased suddenly.  I looked over to see what was going on and saw that some of the (what appeared to be thousands) white and black Ross and Snow geese were starting to fly.  

They seemed to be somewhat agitated by some large brown birds flying among them.  The sound was increasing and becoming almost deafening!  I lifted my camera and started to snap away.   The white rose off the ground in waves. 

And soon the sky was filled with beautiful black-winged white geese. 

They flew around in circles for about 5 minutes - honking loudly all the while - and then they started coming back in for a landing.

Ross' Geese and Snow Geese look remarkably alike.  In the picture below, I THINK bird #4 and maybe the last one are Snow Geese.  But the picture isn't totally clear, so that makes it harder to tell. 

This is a good link to learn how to tell the difference.

These are some more ducks that I had never seen in person before.  I believe these are Ruddy Ducks (both male and female).  

Unfortunately, I did not get any good shots.  In the photo above, you can see two ducks on the far left just above the first solitary duck. You can see the characteristic blue beak of one (if you look really hard. ;-/ ).

I took so many pictures of that gray duck in the foreground of the next picture.  The damn duck had it's head in the water in every one. I believe that is a Northern Pintail duck (judging by the tail and gray body) and I've never seen that one before either!

I'm not sure what these white geese are. They might be a variety of Ross/Snow Geese.  I'm confused.  They don't have any black on them at all.  Who the hell knows?  Not me anyway.

Coots crossing the road.  

This photo has a little bit of everything in it.  We've got some Greater White-fronted Geese, some Black-necked Stilts, a bunch of Snow Geese and Ross' Geese, a Northern Shoveler, and an unidentified duck that is upside down with it's feet in the air.  Haha!

I'll leave you with this shot of the marsh trees surrounded by water and white geese.  

Stay tuned for more birding adventures!!

xoxo