Like a Coyote
February 16, 2015
Pongo and I hit two wildlife reserves on Presidents' Day. It was nice to have enough time to hit both the San Luis and Merced refuges, and a bit lucky too because after getting basically skunked on Saturday at Big Basin it would have been an extra disappointment given the low bird populations at San Luis.
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| San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
It looks like most of the ducks are already gone at San Luis. It's been a very mild winter and I think many have already headed North. I could be wrong, It's possible they were all off looking for food or whatever. I did see more ring-necked ducks and cinnamon teals than usual, but I suspect they were just easier to spot with the pintails and mallard populations as small as they were.
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| San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
These birds weren't too interested in being photographed, either. I only have a 250mm lens, so I need a little help from the birds to get nice close-ups. No of these little guys were very interested in cooperating. I don't mind too much at San Luis because I like the way the tule reeds and winter trees look in the photos, so I find the long distance shots to be appealing.
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| Jersey Cow -- Gustine, CA |
We stopped at a ranch near Gustine on our way to the Merced complex. They have the cutest cows at this ranch. Pongo played shy with them on Monday. I'm not quite sure if it's part of his act or he was actually being shy or a little scared. I suspect it was a bit of all three.
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| Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
There were a lot more birds at Merced National Wildlife Refuge, which is maybe twenty miles away from the San Luis complex as the crow flies. No swans, though. San Luis had swans. Merced was rich with geese and sandhill cranes, both of which were almost non-existent at San Luis.
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| Snowy Egret -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
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| Cinnamon Teal -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
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| White-faced Ibis -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
As you can see, I had a lot better luck with the close-ups at the Merced refuge. More birds means a bit more patience with cars and cameras, I guess.
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| Ross' Geese -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
So, now, for one of my pet peeves: birders and photographers that think they own the place.
I don't go to extremely remote places. I spend my weekends at parks and reserves where I'm rarely more than a couple of miles from a main road. I'm not talking about people who have hiked into the wilderness to earn some kind of amazing shot that they worked for. I'm talking now about people who have pulled off to the side of the road to take pictures of birds (it's ALWAYS birds).
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| Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
When we got to the field where the sandhill cranes hang out there was already a woman out of her car taking photos. I pulled over and Pongo and I got out of the car on the opposite side of the birds. "mumble mumble mumble," said the bird lady.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"mumble your dog is going to scare the cranes mumble mumble like a coyote mumble."
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| Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
Look, I
totally understand that we all want to get those killer shots. I get it. Sorry, though, I don't really care. For the record, I'm careful with how I handle Pongo in nature and he's got a lot of experience. He knows when to lay low and when he can get a little nutso, We follow all of the guidelines and rules. Yes, he was on a leash and we were far enough away that the cranes weren't going to be concerned with my presence or Pongo's presence, let alone the presence of the woman standing on the road. If a person is going to be annoyed by people cars or dogs, they should find some place more secluded than the auto tour road of a wildlife refuge.
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| Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
For the record, I didn't respond to the lady. Pongo explored as far as his leash would allow and I took more pictures than I had originally intended and no cranes were bothered by either me or my dog. Sorry for all the passive-aggressive drama. Well, I'm not really sorry. I wanted to vent.
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| Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
Our final bird of the day was a great horned owl in her nest. What a great way to end a nice three day weekend.
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