Yosemite and More

 Seems like so far this year it's the year of birds for me. Not really but I have been lucky several times. I've decided to post the bird photos from several outings in this one post. I've visited the Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge, Shasta Dam and Shasta Valley National Wildlife Refuge. I'll let the Merced Wildlife Refuge birds remain in my prior post. The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is in far Northern California and I visited it about two weeks too late for optimum birding. Not complaining. This is one of the smaller ducks, don't think I've ever seen one before. The contrast between the dirty water of the canal and the black and white of the Buffalo Head is quite stark. Most of the Bald Eagle shots I've made are from a great distance. This one was very accommodating.  It stayed perched while I slowly approached getting as close as I  could across a canal. I believe this to be a Juvenile Red Tail Hawk by the size of it's beak and of course feathers.  I...

When I went to the Lava Beds National Monument I spend way to short a time at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge. I will definitely be going back to both places when I can spend some real time. This first photo is not really very good but it gives you some idea of  why it's called Tule Lake. There were tons of Yellow Headed Blackbirds and they really stood out among the tules. This one turned his head to give a great view of it's coloring. This Black Crowned Night Heron was quite a ways off and it took me a while to find a fairly clear view. I'd never seen one before (that I know of) and wasn't sure what it was. A fellow photographer posted a photo of one a couple of days after I got back. Thank you. As the sun set and getting late I decided to take a gravel road to see  where it went. It seemed to be going away from the water and I had decided to turn around when I came upon  a whole lot of these dragonflies....