It's a Bird! It's a Plane! Or Is It? - Mini Post Excitement 7/1/16

I was heading down Road 94B in Woodland on my search of flowers and fauna.  It was an interesting road.  Fields and a few houses and so on.  

As I was approaching an old, narrow bridge with a stand of trees on one side, my eye was caught by a large bird sitting in a tree top just off the road.  I was going too fast to pull over, so I crossed the bridge and turned around.  I went back and parked my car so I could get out and explore. 

I didn't have my zoom lens with me, so I figured my chances of getting any good shots of Mr. Turkey Vulture would be slim to none. To my surprise, he was pretty calm and cooperative, even spreading his wings for several shots!  

Love at first sight:

He's checking to see if I like this pose.  I do, Mr. Vulture.  

Nope.  Not flying, just turning to the side so I can get a different view.  You can see through his nostrils!!  

He was balancing while extending his wings every which way for me.  The Zoolander of vultures!

Blue Steel.

This is not a vulture.  This is a plane.  Just down the street is the Yolo Fliers Club.

"Ummm, excuse me! Aren't you supposed to be taking NATURE pictures Madam Photographer?"

 Oh, yes.  I definitely am!! 
He never flew away and was quite happily perched when I returned to my car and drove away.

Oh how I wish I had my zoom!  These photos would have been amazing.  But not bad for an 18-55 with a semi-skittish bird.

The area was pretty cool and I couldn't resist a photo of some graffiti on the bridge which crosses over Cache Creek.  Made even more interesting with a little bit of fisheye thrown in. 

On the other side of the bridge (Mr. Vulture's side actually), there were tons of swallows flitting around and around in the air above the water far below.  I tried to capture them with very modest "success".

One last shot of Derek with a weird self-portrait in shadow.  I like it.  

And I jumped back in my faithful ride and headed North toward the sun and the bee-filled safflower fields. 

xoxo

Nikon D3300 with 18-55 lens (some wide/fisheye attachment)

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

Not So Wild Wildflowers! 2/20/16

Two posts ago I shared my amazing evening seeing Yosemite's Horsetail "Firefall"    That was how I ended my fun Saturday road-trip on February 20th.  This post is how I started it.  Or, at least my first stop of the day.

As I mentioned in my Yosemite post, I had originally intended to go to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge and possibly the nearby San Luis National Wildlife Refuge to photograph some wildlife.  But a different "wild" thing has also been on my mind lately...wild flowers.  

It's kind of early for wildflowers.  There are quite a few though because of the really warm weather we've had after all the much-needed rain.  So I've been thinking (and kind of worrying!) a lot lately because I'm afraid when they bloom, they won't last long.  And will I miss them??  Silly, I know.  

So when I saw a beautiful photo posted on my friend Cindy's Instagram of gorgeous wild daisies, I asked her where she had taken the photo.  It seemed to be a good omen when she said they were on northbound Highway 99 between Merced and Atwater!

It was foggy when I left Sacramento (not as early as I had intended) and then it got sunny.  But just before I got to Atwater, the fog took over again!  I drove all the way into Merced to get some breakfast and was a little dismayed because I didn't really see any flowers except for a small patch along the center median.  That wouldn't work.  And, they didn't look like the daisies that Cindy had seen.

After breakfast, I headed back North, but I stayed on surface streets near the highway, hoping to find some flowers.

Success!  

I found an interesting road surrounded by fields of beautiful flowers on three sides and rustic farms on the East. Photography Heaven!

It was still foggy and a lot of the flowers weren't fully awake.  But that only increased their beauty and the dew from the fog was amazing.

Ah. May. Zing. 

This tiny purple blossom was covered on every surface. 

To give you a better idea of what these little fields of flowers looked like...

I was a little suspicious, to be honest.  All these flowers were growing around areas that either were under construction or near construction. 

I had an inkling that the only true wildflowers in my photos were the mustard stems you can see in the photo below.  Not that I REALLY cared.  :)

The foggy farms were pretty interesting too.

But lest we forget that this is not a pristine field in the wild...

I really don't know how it was standing up like that.  But I didn't cross the road to look at the other side.  

I was wandering along the fence line, checking out the farm, when I noticed some feathered friends posing for me. They were not deterred me or by the fog.

I even had to dodge a Canadian fly by.

All these birds were making me anxious to get to the Wildlife Refuge, so I started to walk back to my car.  At one point a gentleman in a construction truck pulled into the dirt path where I was walking and asked if I was enjoying the flowers and if I had gotten any good shots.  

I said I was and hoped I had some good ones.  I said the flowers were amazing and he said that the city of Atwater air drops the wildflower blend seeds in construction zones to prevent erosion and make the projects looked more pleasing.  Smart idea!  I knew they weren't 100% wild!  

Again, I'm not complaining.  

So many colors!  And combinations!  I even found some Lakers colors.  :)

Which is not to say that the occasional white flower was overshadowed.  Not at all...still gorgeous. 

But one of the most unique flowers I found will end the post.  Loved this ombre-painted flower!  The vibrant purple and fuchsia fading into lavender and white were brilliant against the orange daisies in the background.  

I had so much fun walking around and photographing all the various "wild" flowers.  

Big thanks to Cindy and the city of Atwater!!

xoxo