Merced Wildlife Refuge

I bought myself a early Christmas present. 

A Sigma 100-400mm lens. 

Since the weather was reasonable yesterday I decided to go to the Merced Wildlife Refuge

 and see if I made a good decision or not.

There weren't a lot of birds around but those I did see were pretty cooperative. 

At a distance anyway. Most of the following were not cropped much. This lens is worth

 every penny I paid.

This photo of a Red Tail Hawk was not cropped at all.

Next along the road was a Northern Shoveler Duck that had just dived into to 

water a couple of times and decided to shake some of the water off.

This Juvenile Harrier Hawk was pretty cooperative. Of course it flew off just as I took my

camera away from my eye.

Don't know the name of this bird. If anyone does please comment. There are so many

small birds. I couldn't fine one with the eye and ruffle on the top combination.

As I drove through the refuge I wondered if I'd see any Pelicans. Last year I saw some

brown ones. To my surprise this year there was a small island covered with white ones.

A funny thing about Pelicans

Their mouth can hold more

Than their belly can.

Here's another resident of the Refuge.

Not exactly wildlife, but the Merced Wildlife Refuge also has 

grazing cattle in one corner. How do you take an interesting photo

of black cattle, add a pretty good sunset.

And yes I know that the cattle are a little dark. It was sunset and you really don't see a 

lot of detail on black cattle even in the daylight.

I might add that some Snow and Ross Geese were there. But not in huge numbers

and I've posted photos of them many times.before..

Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph

Dave