Day One Flies By

What a wonderful way to start the year with a visit to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge with a dear friend from high school. We knew it would be a long day, and so we left the kitties in good stead with a final dispensing of kitty treats. Sadie was in her element because the morning sun was shining in on her hammock. She gets so toasty lying there, I worry she will spontaneously combust.

Smitty likes the sunshine too, but yesterday, he thought he'd get under the cover of the Stars & Stripes quilt. He thinks of himself as a "pawtriot." On the first day of the new year, he always re-commits to Paw and Country.

Okay, with them tucked in and fed, we headed off. It was about a 45 minute drive. The area is lovely, however...pretty much all agricultural.

There's a driving tour all around the ponds where gazillions (even more than bazillions) of birds can be seen in and around the water and also flying overhead.

My friend Judy is a fabulous bird photographer, and a practiced birder. She is involved in all sorts of community activities related to the local wildlife refuges, bird counts, Audubon chapters, and I don't know what all. She can spot birds with her naked eye, when I can't even get in the general vicinity. And she has a spotting scope, pictured below. She can train the scope right on a bird (almost like a visual laser pointer) so that everyone can get a look. It makes for a very interesting and fun day.

At the first viewing platform, we found a big grouping of coots. Judy helped me to learn the name of this particular bird on our last visit two years ago. To me, they'd always been ducks. Now that I know the difference, they're easy to spot.

For me, their feet are the thing. They have these pillowy feet that allow them to walk easily on marshy surfaces. I took dozens of pictures of this grouping trying to get a good picture of the feet.

Judy told me the name of these birds, and I've already forgotten. She mentioned they were very photogenic because of their red legs, and because they tend to wade in shallower water, leaving a reflection on the surface. You'll see in a moment, I took a lot of pictures of them too.

Our goal for the day was to see the sandhill cranes fly in, which meant waiting until after sunset. When we arrived, there were some off in the distance on one of the berms between ponds.

One of the things I love about this place is seeing the many geese, ducks, starlings, and all other different kinds of birds, flying in and out by the thousands.

I don't actually have a lot to say about these pictures, and so I won't comment on all of them. I'll just let you see what we saw.

Here's a red-tailed hawk. He was some distance away. I took several pictures of him, just hoping to capture something. He had his back to us at first, but at some point (unseen by me) he turned around. I didn't know I'd captured the front of him until I took the pictures off the camera. Always a nice surprise.

We saw quite a few Great Egrets at various locations.

And lots and lots of snow geese. Judy tells us these are actually Ross's geese. Ross’s Geese nest in low arctic tundra, especially on islands; they forage in wetlands, meadows, and agricultural fields. At night, wintering birds roost with other geese on lakes, reservoirs, or wetlands. We've seen them all up and down the state as we've driven south.

The one below is an ibis.

Here's another hawk...way off in the distance.

Judy spotted these two bald eagles way off in the distance. I could eventually see them too when she described where to look. We all got a good look through her spotting scope.

Here, I just liked how the clouds were reflecting on the pond.

Judy was excited to find these Tundra swans. We see these at the Klamath NWR in Oregon too. Tundra Swans nest on arctic tundra. Look for Tundra Swans during winter on estuaries and coastal waters, and some inland lakes. On migration and in winter, they may leave the water to feed in agricultural fields.

Eventually, we saw them fly overhead.

Any bird of prey will stir up the geese in this way. It's eye-popping seeing so many birds.

Here's a short video I took of them in flight when we visited two years ago. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

We got a good look at this Great Blue Heron. I think I've said before, they always make me think of Richard Cory from the poem. And if you're familiar with the poem, then you know that Richard Cory  "was a gentleman from sole to crown, clean favored, and imperially slim."

Later he walked out from behind the reeds, and we could really see that he was "quietly arrayed," and that "he glittered when he walked," just like Richard Cory.

We were nearing the end of the loop when we spotted these squirrels. I swear on my quilting grandmother's grave, these squirrels were as big as cats. 

Judy was able to pick out a burrowing owl from this landscape. I was able to get a good look in her spotting scope, but I could never see it with my naked eye to get a picture. Here's a not-very-good shot of one I captured from our last visit.

We finished up the loop, and then drove around again to choose a spot to sit and wait for sunset.

Along the way, we saw this tree full of swallows and red-winged blackbirds.

Here's another shot of the red-winged blackbirds. They look like just blackbirds until they fly, but I believe you can see a little spot of red on the right wing of the left bird in the image below. Or maybe it's just a reed...work with me here.

The sun was close to setting, and the shadow selves of these three musketeers were ready for the sandhill cranes to fly in.

It ended up being a pretty sunset.

And then we started seeing line after line of sandhill cranes flying in. They split off from one another and went in two different directions. They came in waves of maybe a few dozen or more. Here's a little video I took of them. I love the sound they made. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

After that, we continued on around the one-way loop again, pausing to get this shot as we drove by. It was cold, and I stood on the running boards of the truck to steady myself.

A fine way to spend the first day of the new year. This will probably be an annual event. It's fabulous seeing the birds, and even more fun to spend time with one of my oldest and dearest friends.

We're moving along today to an overnight spot near Bakersfield. The next night, we'll be at Lake Skinner Recreation Area where we're meeting up with a group of RVing friends. It could be said that Lake Skinner is our first "destination." This trip will be a little less heavy on sight-seeing, and more sticking in one place and staying warm. We'll be in Lake Skinner for a week, and then on to Escondido for two weeks. We'll have two week-stays at all our stops before heading for home. Fingers crossed for good internet access, so I can keep blogging.

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to set my goal for January's

You might remember that I kitted up ten French Roses to bring along on our travels. In January, I'd like to get them sewn into quilt blocks.