Merced Wildlife Refuge

Before this current Covid-19 crisis three fellow photographers and I took a little 

sojourn to the Merced Wildlife Refuge. It turned out to be one of the 

most memorable ones I've taken to the Refuge, and that's 

saying a lot.

While there were a lot of geese I'm posting those a little later.

This first one is of one of my favorite birds, the Black Necked Stilt. These

birds are constantly feeding and usually move just as I hit the trigger.

The birds in the Refuge don't seem to have any trouble mixing with each other.

While the old saying 'birds of a feather, flock together' applies it's not

carved in stone.

The image above includes a Great Egret, below is a Snowy Egret, much smaller and

there seems to be fewer of them at the Refuge. Note the longer bill.

Another bird you only see a few of are the White Pelicans. While not

a total stranger to the Refuge the most I've ever seen at once were 

4 or 5 a couple of years ago.

As the day progressed into the evening, more and more flocks of geese 

and Sandhill Cranes came in. This one forming a nearly perfect V.

I've been to the Refuge many times and have seen mass rising of geese. None were

anywhere near the one we saw this day. Unfortunately I had my telephoto lens on. 

This was taken at 100mm and probably should have been 12-14mm to get 

the full effect. It was a sight to behold.

I caught this as the sunset progressed and flocks were coming in to roost for the night.

In front are Ross Geese, the back two Sandhill Cranes.

As sunset loomed these geese decided to find a better spot to roost for the night.

As you may have noticed sunsets at the Refuge can be pretty spectacular. I changed this

one to black and white to emphasize the contrasts and make it a little moody.

Normally I end these with 'Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph'

Stay safe, stay home and persevere.

Dave