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The Birds
back to Ramblings
Recently we made the trek to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, which is one in a complex of four refuges and one wildlife management area. The first was established in 1937 and the rest were created from then on into the 1980’s. There is a reason that this complex is so important and that is because over 90% of California’s wetlands are gone. There is just one small problem with that … and allow me to quote here from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service brochure:
“For thousands of years the Sacramento Valley has provided a winter haven for ducks, geese, and swans. Waterfowl migrate here by the millions from as far away as the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia. The habitats of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex are islands in a sea of agriculture in the Sacramento Valley of California. This valley represents the single most important wintering area for waterfowl along the Pacific Flyway.”
I had wanted to do this for a long time so I finally rounded up all the family units and before they knew what hit them, we were on a road trip. It took almost 2 hours to reach our destination, but we could tell we were getting close because at times the sky would get dark with huge flocks of birds – snow geese, Ross’s geese, and the like. I, of course, wouldn’t know these if they hit me in the face. I had to rely on pamphlets provided at the refuge.
If you look carefully, you’ll see that the sky is full of incoming birds. The best time to view birds flying en masse is at dawn and dusk, when they leave and arrive. But with the driving time involved, that wasn’t an option.
We chose to first walk the 2-mile trail to see what we could find, and then drive the 6-mile auto tour. As you can see, Butterfly came prepared with proper head-gear. She said no bird was going to poop on her!
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a gorgeous day for a walk
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As I took this picture I missed taking a picture of a bald eagle flying overhead. We had to learn to start looking up and not just look down at the water. Electric Horseman has always been a huge bald eagle fan, so this was icing on the cake.
I would have liked to have had a kayak to poke around in here.
Trying to capture this guy’s photo was a challenge.
I think this would make a good (read "maddening") jigsaw puzzle for Butterfly.
We found an owl pellet and dismantled it to see what had been for lunch. We found what appeared to have been mouse bones and fur.
Someone yelled, “Look – the birds are flying way over there!” so I swung around and starting snapping pictures.
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we couldn't wait to get closer to this action
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And then, once again, I heard, “Look, another bald eagle flying over!” I frantically pointed my camera up, but I had it zoomed way out and all I saw was this big blur. I kept trying to catch him as he flew away.
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trust me - it's a bald eagle
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Yikes – could I get a worse picture of a bird?! I hoped like heck we would have the good fortune to see another.
We were nearing the end of the walking trails and heading back to the car.
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here a nest, there a nest ...
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With the trees bare of their leaves, you could see all the homes that were built in them.
The first thing we spied once we were in the car was Mr. Rabbit. I wondered what he was doing living out here in the middle of nowhere, with no place to hide. Didn’t he know there were coyotes lurking?
In just about every tree we’d see a dark form and I’d zoom in as best I could.
When we got close, I could get a nice photo because the birds were so used to cars moving slowly by. We used the car as our “blind” from which to observe them. In fact, there were signs posted telling us we were not allowed to get out of our cars.
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and this is the slow time of day ...
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About half-way through the driving tour there was a viewing platform.
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not too crowded for a Sunday
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there were scopes in place to help see the birds
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feeding, preening, resting
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I was so busy taking pictures that I relied on Fifinella and Maverick to be spotters. Nothing got by them – not the super-camouflaged hawk, or the raccoon fishing in the canal off to the side of the road.
What was he doing out in the middle of the day? He was busy feeling along the bottom of the water and finally found something to eat – it looked like a crawdad. He made it look yummy.
We were amazed that some cars just raced through, containing visitors who didn’t seem to want to look at anything. We were crawling, and stopping, and watching things for great lengths of times. In fact, I would want to sit and watch/photograph something for longer than others would think was fair (while another car waited patiently behind us). A few other cars figured out that we were finding things, so they followed us and stopped where we stopped, to try to figure out what we spotted.
“I’ll bet that’s a bald eagle in that tree way up there on the right!” said Fifinella.
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I could only see this because I zoomed my camera
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Where did the child get her eyes???!!!
I was thinking to myself, “Don’t fly away, don’t fly away! Please let us see you up close!”
I won’t bore you with all the photos I took of it, but isn’t it gorgeous?
As I studied this photo, I thought that this guy might have been injured. It looks like there are some feathers missing on that shoulder …
This fisher would barely sit still for 30 seconds, so getting a good picture of him was an exercise in futility.
I have no idea what this bird is, but I just laugh when I look at his photo. He was running along in the muddy water next to the road. He’s definitely on a mission.
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more and more happy birds
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Here was our last look at flocks of geese.
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yet another one of these guys
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We must have seen dozens of hawks, and many of them were busy hunting – pouncing on some poor, unsuspecting critter in the grasses.
As we were driving up on this guy, I at first thought he was a wood duck because of his coloring, but then I saw that bill. I don’t know what he is. I really should have had my bird book with me when I wrote this!
I wish you could have heard the running commentary while we watched Mr. and Mrs. Duck feeding. Butterfly, who had been in the back seat, quietly eating chocolate the whole time we toured, had us all in stitches as she said, “Butt up, butt down, butt up, butt down.” She didn’t actually use the “butt” word, but since this is a family website, I’ve censored her language.
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