I had to go to Sacramento for my job (the semi part of semi-retired). Since I was done early I decided to visit Old Sacramento. But first a little story. Since I had spilled some chemical down my pant leg and it looked ...um... unseemly, I went out and bought a pair of shorts and some socks, and was ready to go. I'm a member of the California Railroad Museum and therefore got in free. It wasn't a disappointment from a railroad fan point of view. I was however disappointed from a photographers point of view. The museum was quite dark, no tripods allowed, and most of the exhibits were under glass. I did get a couple of inside shots I liked. This is the water injector that put the water in the boiler, a very mundane function but in yesteryear an opportunity to shine. An this is one of the most famous color schemes. It's the Santa Fe's War Bonnet colors. A modified version is used today by the Atchison Topeka and Santa...
My brother Jim took me on a little tour of the North State beginning with the little town of Hornbrook. It's a former major stop for the Southern Pacific Railroad before the Siskiyou Summit. As with most rural areas there are some interesting uses of materials. Before the advent of automatic crossing guards men would stay safe from the weather in one of these waiting to stop traffic from an approaching train. I'm sure without automatic crossing guards or someone controlling the crossing this would work to stop the train. Four dams were removed from the Klamath River. Restoration work is continuing, but for the time being the former reservoirs look like this. It's recently been reported that a few salmon have returned. Go, See, Enjoy, be Safe and Photograph Dave
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 c...
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