It's been a few weeks, but Pongo and I finally made it out of the house for an afternoon. It felt good to get out into the open air.
 |
| Western Kingbird -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
We started at the Merced complex. The waterfowl are mostly gone aside from a few ducks and mudhens. The refuge is far from empty, though. Less plentiful in number than the large flocks of geese and ducks, the land is populated by kingbirds, swallows and raptors. The great horned owls also remain. The wetlands are now dry for the most part.
 |
| Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
 |
| Great Horned Owl |
A few marshy areas remain at San Luis. Pongo and I made our way there after touring the Merced refuge. Our first good sighting was a great horned owl, a first for me at the refuge. I was unable tp get a decent picture because he stuck to the shadows.You'll have to use your imagination a little bit with this picture.
Pongo jumped out of the car window again. This is the second time he's done that, both at San Luis and both incidents happened within a few hundred yards of one another. Last time he went after ducks that quacked at him. This time he leaped after a ground squirrel. It happened very quickly. I keep a long leash on him when we're driving with his window open and I never go more than ten miles an hour, still it was a little frightening. I was worried about him getting under the wheels but he was fine. I told him not to do it again, but we'll see. I want to keep the window down for him because he enjoys the drives so much, but I sure don't want him to get hurt.
 |
| San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
Aren't the greens and yellows amazing? What a beautiful time for a drive at the refuge. I love the varied browns of winter, but Spring is even more to my liking. I miss the big flocks, though. I was hoping to see a coyote or two since we were there late in the afternoon but no such luck. We didn't see one until much later in a field on our drive home.
 |
| Western Kingbird -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
We saw a couple of swainson's hawks on elk fence posts. I think I saw a couple of others in flight but I wasn't able to identify them with any cinfidence. I've never seen swainson's hawks before, at least that I could identify, so that was cool.
 |
| Swainson's Hawk -- San Luis National Wildife Refuge, CA |
 |
| Swainson's Hawk |
The elk must have been tucked into the interior of their large enclosure because I only saw three. The two males had velvet on their antlers. I wonder how long until that comes off and they take on their tough guy demeanor.
Demeanors? Spell check says no. Dunno. I should dig up a dictionary. I guess I could google it, but I'm too lazy.
Anyway, it was a nice afternoon. I just have to talk Pongo into keeping himself in the car while we're driving around the loop.
 |
| Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
