Bird Spotlight! Brandt's Cormorants in Breeding Plumage - Natural Bridges State Beach Santa Cruz California April 2025

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Santa Cruz was to see the beautiful Brandt's Cormorants on the colony atop the Natural Bridge!  

It was the beginning of breeding season and I was excited to see these birds in their beautiful breeding plumage.  Brandt's are black birds with electric blue gular patches to match their beautiful blue eyes so of course I wanted to see them relatively close up and try to get some photos.

I was successful and yet, unsuccessful due to hard winds and camera shake. It's so frustrating as I get older.  But luckily Topaz AI is able to help with my shaky photos without looking too artificial (I hope). 

So, after my wonderful morning at the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum and Botanical Garden and a brief stop at my hotel which is right on the way, I made my way to Natural Bridges State Beach to check it out!

There is a parking lot dedicated to parking for viewing the Natural Bridge rock where the colony is. Time limit (I think 30 minutes?) so you can't park for the beach there. But it was perfect to back right up to where the rock is and pop open my rear door for easy access to my camera and a place to sit. 

 You feel so close to the birds and the ocean and beach is beautiful.   

Nikon D600 Nikkor 28-300 lens at 28 mm

The rest of the photos were taken at 600 mm and then cropped, at least a little and some a lot, in Lightroom and Photoshop.  

These California Gulls wanted their photo taken.  :)  But the rest of the photos are of the Brandt's Cormorants.  It's possible there are some Double-crested Cormorants in the colony too.  

And there some Brown Pelicans hanging out too!

This next one has a pretty good look at the nests which are built upon the ground out of seaweed, eelgrass, weeds, etc.  It was very cool to see birds flying to the rock carrying nesting materials. 

This bird looks like it has a red eye but it is part of the seaweed it's carrying to the colony. 

These guys are bringing fresh nesting material. 

I think it looks kind of cool that you can see the people across the cove on the tidepool shelves.  I went over there later but didn't see any tide pools such as I'm used to...even though it was low tide.  But supposedly Natural Bridges has good tide pools so I guess I just couldn't find them.  

Reliving this adventure through my photographs reminds me that I need to make another trip to see the chicks!  Hopefully I can fit that in.  

xoxo

Nikon D7200  Sigma Contemporary 150 - 600 Lens

Photos edited in Lightroom, Topaz Photo AI, and Photoshop

Muskrat Love (and Lots More to Love!) At Modoc National Wildlife Refuge - Closeups!

Returning to Modoc National Wildlife Refuge which is just off Highway 395 in Northern California near Alturas.  In my last post, we saw the gorgeous landscapes which included various birds and mammals and even a couple of reptiles! 

Previous Post:  I Like Countryside!!

Now we'll get an even closer look at the amazing creatures inhabiting this beautiful wilderness area. Starting with this colorful caped-crusading Barn Swallow.

Flying Tern

American White Pelican

Muskrat!  Working hard but keeping an eye on me...

Oh my!  What is this beauty!  I believe it's a Yellow-headed Blackbird chowing down on a cattail!

Now this is a story of an adorable, but bad little baby who did not listen to her mommy.  Let's call her Fawn. 

As I came around the corner on the auto trail, this little cutie was nibbling at the grass on the left side of the road.

When she noticed that she was no longer alone, she seemed to remember that she was supposed to stay hidden.  She looked into the taller grass on the left and then looked around like, "No...that's not it..."

Fawn trotted a little ways up...

And then a little ways down...

She looked all over for the spot where she was supposed to stay put while her mama was away!

Looking a bit baffled, she crossed over to the right side of the road (I pretty much had my car parked blocking the whole road about 100 feet from her because it was just after a blind curve).  

"I just know my mommy hid me in the tall grass right around here somewhere!"

"Hmmm, maybe me and my little Bee friend should check the other side again..."

She walked back to the right side about 50 feet in front of my car where I couldn't really get a photo of her.  Twice she walked into the tall grass.  The first time she reappeared after about 30 seconds but stayed in the same area sniffing the grass.  Then she came about 8 feet closer and appeared to have found the spot!

She disappeared and I sat there (with one vehicle behind me at this point) and waited about 3 minutes to make sure she wouldn't pop back out.  She didn't so I think she found the spot.  :)  So much fun!

Are you mama??

And then...finally!  What I had come to see!  A Sandhill Crane!  If there was a chick, I couldn't see it.  Haha!  But at least I saw one of the damn Cranes!  And got a couple pretty good photos too. 

By the way, this was in the evening on my second pass through.  But worth the wait.  

And with that...I pulled off the Refuge and headed back towards 395 South.

And was treated to this young buck and another friend saying bye to me.  

Thanks for visiting Modoc National Wildlife Refuge!

xoxo

Nikon D600
Tamron Nikon Mount 150-600 F5-6.3 DiVC (handheld)

Visiting Modoc National Wildlife Refuge - California Travel Photos

I don't usually visit National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) in the Spring or Summer because I like to go when the migration is happening.  But I got word that Sandhill Cranes nest at Modoc and wanted to see if I could get some baby chick pictures.  

Spoiler Alert:  I couldn't.

But it was a beautiful experience anyway and I did, in fact, get some baby pictures...just not of chicks.  lol  I got there later than I intended and that may have figured in to my lack of Crane chicks.  When I arrived mid-morning, it was already starting to get hot and there were a LOT of people on the Refuge.

Apparently Modoc is one of the refuges that allows people to walk and bike ride on the auto trail during the summer months.  I even saw a couple walking their dogs along the trail which, as you can imagine, probably doesn't bode well for wildlife to be out and about.

So I got a lot of cool "landscape" photos.  :-)

To my happiness, there were birds and mammals around even though it conditions weren't exactly the best. 

Various Ducks, Egrets, Gulls galore!  And even Pelicans and Terns!

Even though Spring had passed, there were beautiful flowers blooming as well.  

So many Gulls!  But if you look closely, you will see a few black-headed Terns in the mix along with some Black-Necked Stilts.

And turtles!!!  

 Deer oh deer!  I saw LOTS of deer!

Technically, this isn't on the Refuge, but it is on the road just before getting to Highway 395.  I couldn't believe these two guys with their fuzzy antlers were just standing there looking at me.  They didn't move even while I turned around to get a better position.  Thanks mon bebes!

Next post will have the closeups and more birds and animals that I encountered.  Some very adorable and unexpected!!  Stay tuned!

xoxo

Nikon D600
Tamron Nikon Mount 150-600 F5-6.3 DiVC (handheld)