Soggy Morning at Pixley National Wildlife Refuge

First time at Pixley which is about 48 miles north of Bakersfield in lovely Central California.  It is also just down the street (practically) from Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, the first California town owned, populated, and governed by African-Americans. 

So of course I had to take the opportunity to stop by Pixley first.  It was a soggy, foggy morning.  And there wasn't a ton of wildlife out an about, so I can't really say too much about the birding possibilities here.  

I did see a bunch of Sandhill Cranes, but they were in the farmer's fields prior to getting onto Pixley.  And, as seemed to be the story of the weekend, the Nikon D750 I was shooting with didn't really want to cooperate all that much with focusing.  Operator error, I'm sure. 

But I did get some artsy photos and challenged myself to make some good memories with what was around me and what I had.  Which was a nice, foggy walk.

Riperian Brush Rabbit

Western Meadowlark

Coot Crossing

And then Coots Flying. 

Yellow Greaterlegs or Long-billed Dowitcher? 

Foggy Falcon

Sunrise over the pond.

The bright red on this...whatever...really struck me as I gazed into the fields.

Black-necked Stilts

Flying Foggy Falcon

Shroom

Walking back to my car when I noticed that I left my lights on.  Dammit!!  My car is parked just to the right of the tiny (yet actually pretty big) sign marking the parking area and trailhead. 

I ran all the way back.  haha

Riparian Brush Rabbit hiding from me and my lens.  Mostly with success.

I love this photo. 

Extension tube experimentation.  Couldn't look through my lens (do to being in a ditch and at an angle), so I couldn't nail the focus.  But I think the photos are cool as they are. 

After this, I went to Colonel Allensworth State Park.  And then after that I headed to another Refuge that I had not been too before.

And we'll travel there next.  

xoxo

Nikon D750

#TBT Rancho Seco Park 2/2016

I had this really great goal to get all of my previous year adventures posted before January ended.  Yeah, right.  lol  Didn't happen.  So I am going to try to do a "Throw Back Thursday" #TBT post each Thursday.

I chose this one because it's from February of last year and it really serves to illustrate what a difference a year makes!  It was very  dry and practically balmy last February when Adrienne and I took this little walk. 

We parked by the little lake and then walked over to the PAWS facility, which was closed.  I guess you have to make an appointment to see inside the visitor center. But we did get to see this cute ground squirrel sitting outside the house as if he owned it.  

I'm fascinated with cooling towers at old nuclear power plants.  They make for some great photos.

These two are Scimitar-horned Oryx.  They are extinct in the wild, so it's quite a treat to see them.

Black Phoebe in a treebe.

Yellowlegs

Bridge over dry creek bed.  I'm sure this is currently filled with water.  You probably can't even walk around a lot of this trail right now due to water and mud.  It's supposed to be full of vernal pools, but there was only one pool that I saw last year.

Of course, there was water in the man-made lake.

You can see the damn in the background, but I like this photo of the duel fishing docks.

Ruddy duck in reeds.

Wet Ruddy duck on blue waves. 

Not the best photo of the duck, but I liked how the water looks like corrugated metal.

xoxo

Nikon D3000

Gardens at Lake Merritt - Oakland, CA 3/6/16

Continuing my PREVIOUS POST from beautiful Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, this is the first of probably two dediciated to the amazing Gardens at Lake Merritt.  

When I spontaneously decided to drive to Oakland on this gorgeous day in between storms, my original intention and destination was the Gardens of Lake Merritt.  As we know, I love taking nature photos and can't resist a good flower pic.  A much more difficult task is getting good photos of butterflies and bees, which I also try to do with a not-so-satisfactory success rate.  

The Gardens at Lake Merritt boast a pollinator garden.  With our current climate issues and the fact that bees are dying at an alarming rate and the monarch butterfly population is on the decline as well, pollinator gardens are very important.  

I had been reading up on bees and monarchs...that's how I came across Lake Merritt.  In all my trips to Oakland, I had never done more than drive by.  I really wanted to learn more and experience this type of garden.  

So off I went. 

The gardens are free but parking isn't; it is $5 on weekends and $2 after 1:00 p.m. on weekdays.  Here is some travel information to the Gardens.  Outside the entrance is a crazy cool flower sculpture. 

And inside...it was amazing.  I could not get over how spectacular these orange and purple daisies are!

I mean...I'm in love.  Really. True. Love. 

Right away, I saw some butterflies.  They, like me, loved the lavender flowers.  #PurplePower

Here a Monarch takes flight.  They are so fast!  And I had my manual focus lens. *sad face*  I do still love this picture though.  I meant to focus on the flowers!

I also saw quite a few of these spectral-looking butterflies called Small White and/or Cabbage White. This male apparently thought he was quite camouflaged on the spotty road. I don't blame him!

Not surprisingly, where there are butterflies, you'll also find the birds who eat them.  In this case, gorgeous, blue scrub jays.  

 "What?!  Who you calling a scrub?"

"I ain't no scrub. Hmmph."

And I cannot even count how many fat, rolypoly squirrels I saw! 

  I wanted to pick this one up and squeeze the stuffing out of him!

But, back to the butterflies.  lol

And bees.  We cannot forget about the bees!

I love these unique-looking purple flowers and so did this fuzzy, grey digger bee (Anthophora). 

Another of my favorite finds of the day was this strange, but beautiful swirly green plant with blue flowers. 

One thing that amazes me (and makes me mad at myself quite frankly) is that I don't have a picture of the awesome bee hotel in the garden.  I know I took at least one photo of it, but it either didn't turn out or I accidentally deleted it.  

Well, now I have to go back!

Anyhoo...  On with the show. I loved this barren wood trellis.  This was in the "edible" garden... 

 ...where the star of the show for me besides the trellis, was the gorgeous and colorful Swiss Chard.  Which was literally beside the trellis. :-)

This little birdie lurking nearby may have thought so too.  

Actually, he and this little squirrel were hanging out in the sensory garden  

Here there are raised beds full of plants that stimulate the senses whether it's through their strong scent, fuzzy leaves, or brilliant blooms. 

Hey, squirrels need stimulation too!  Especially this guy with the nut in his mouth. 

He quickly shimmied up a wall and into a flower bed to bury his precious nugget for a future meal. He gave me the side eye as he carefully patted the dirt into place. 

Here are some of the colorful blooms in the sensory garden. 

As I continued walking through the seven acres of gardens, I saw many smart crows around.  I love crows. 

And an elegantly-handsome black feline who knew how to bring out the color of his eyes to the best advantage!

We'll end on that mesmerizing note.  

Next post we will visit the Mediterranean and Japanese gardens as well as the ones dedicated to Rododendrons.  

See ya then!   

xoxo

Nikon D3000