Yosemite and More

Visited the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge and the Merced Wildlife Refuge on VERY different days. One very sunny, the other fog bound. The Sacramento NWR, was a clear day with a lot of visitors that limited the  birds near the auto route. The fog and few visitors actually allowed for more opportunities at the Merced NWR. Case in point First the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Blue Morph Ross Geese White Faced Ibis, Hunting and Hiding Small Bufflehead Duck, these swim fast and don't like  cars, people, or cameras. This is taken through the reeds and heavily cropped. I thought this hawk was going to take off but instead it just fluffed it's feathers and settled back down. Merced National Wildlife Refuge seemed to have a wider and more easily photographable subjects. Thought this was an interesting juxtaposition. Each section of the refuge is flooded to to certain depth depending on what species they want to accommodate. I find it interesting that in the wild the male al...

Last week I decided to take another trip to the  Merced Wildlife Refuge. There were reports that geese were prevalent. Oops, I didn't see a single one. So I made the best I could of 'non-goose' shots. The wind was mostly non-existent and anyone who has been to the refuge knows it has some interesting trees. Obviously black and white since I was looking at structure. Great Blue Herons are not unheard of in the refuge but you don't see many and usually they're hidden along the edge of the reeds. This one  decided that this open area worked just fine. The predominant duck species was the Northern Shoveler. Ducks  mate for life and you usually see them in pairs. This first shot is a Shoveler grooming near the bank, but protected  by bushes. Here's another pair just cruising looking for a dinner spot. This pair found just right spot for a evening dinner for two. American Coots are probably t...