Merced National Wildlife Refuge

October 30, 2015

After my last post about San Luis Wildlife Refuge, Garry Hayes (Geotripper) tipped me off to to the fact that a few thousand sandhill cranes have already taken up residence at the Merced refuge about ten miles from the San Luis unit.  I decided to take a drive to see the cranes on Friday.

Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

The cranes were spread out all over the refuge.  This is not what I'm normally used to.  My experience has been that the cranes are packed tightly together in a couple of locations.  I suspect this has something to do with the fact that most of the geese and ducks have yet to arrive.  They've had the refuge mostly to themselves for the last few weeks.  That is soon going to change.

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I almost always spot a great horned owl or two at the Merced refuge.  I saw four on my best owl day ever there.  Yesterday I found one deep in a group of trees.  This photo does little more than confirm I actually saw an owl.  Any day I see an owl is a good day, so I'll take it.

Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Red-tailed Hawk -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Black-necked Stilt

As I was taking pictures I passed up a number of opportunities to shoot smaller birds.  That got me thinking about my interests and whether or not I consider myself to be a birder.  The answer is obvious to me, and it's no.  I certainly do a lot of things a birder would do.  I track my sightings on eBird (some of them, anyway).  I own a copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds.  I take a lot of pictures of birds.  That's the thing, though, it's all about the photos for me.  I passed up on photos of a northern shrike and tri-colored blackbirds because I wasn't interested in them.  Granted, the photos would have been tough to pull off but I had similar situations with the owl and the red-tailed hawk and I went after those.  Even more telling, I'd have dropped everything if an opportunity to shoot an otter or even a raccoon had come along.  I like ducks and geese and birds of prey and big birds like the sandhill cranes.  I think a birder would have been more excited about the shrike.

White-faced Ibis -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sandhill Crane -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

All in all, it was a nice little afternoon trip.  Thanks for the tip, Garry!

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Moondog Studios

October 25, 2015

We were back at Moondog on Sunday recording some organ tracks.  Well, I sat around and took pictures and drank a lot of beer.  Most of us sat around while Don worked his magic on the keyboards.  It was a lot of fun.  Well, for most of us.  Don worked his ass off.

Hammond B3 Organ -- Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Hammond B3 Organ

We've already tracked most of the drums, bass guitar and vocals.  There's still some missing parts, though.  I few of the songs had big holes where an organ really needed to go.  Jim picked up this Hammond B3 a couple of months ago.  It has a Leslie rotary speaker that turns an already exceptional organ sound into something truly amazing.  This is a monster of a musical instrument in the hands of a good musician.  Calling Don a good musician would do him a disservice.  He was absolutely masterful on Sunday.

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

There's not a whole lot of story here.  Most of us ate, drank, smoked and duffed around all day.  We listened to a lot of tracks over and over again.  That's what happens in the studio.  Rock star weekends are a lot of fun.  Recording in the studio is a gas.  It's not as much fun as playing in front of a crowd, but it's a calmer kind of fun.  It's more art than show.

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

A lot of time was spent outside shooting the shit.  A lot of the world's problems were solved on Sunday.  Unfortunately, none of us could remember the solutions the next morning.  Marco grilled up a fine dinner of short ribs and chicken.  Don took a few tracks to the next level over the course of the day and may have saved one from the dust bin.  All in all, it was a productive and entertaining day.  Well, I personally wasn't productive.  I sat around and drank beer all day.  I'm the drummer, it's my prerogative.

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

Moondog Studios, Alameda, CA

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

October 18, 2015

I took Pongo to San Luis National Wildlife Refuge yesterday.  It's been a while since I've taken him on an adventure.  We were in for a few surprises.

Northern Shoveler -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We always start with the drive around the avian sanctuary.  It's already been flooded.  The early arrivals are already there.  Northern shovelers mostly, with a few coots and mallards thrown into the mix.  I was expecting dry fields, so that was a nice surprise.

Sandhill Crane -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I wasn't too surprised to see shovelers.  They're generally the first to arrive.  I wasn't expecting sandhill cranes.  Maybe they're early arrivers too, I'm not as familiar with them.  I was happy to see 'em, though.

Sandhill Crane -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

White Pelican -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

If you can't tell from the pictures, the light as pretty bad.  It was dark, the sun was stuck all afternoon behind a group of dark clouds.

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

The bachelors were hanging out together in the elk refuge.  Poor guys.  Better luck next year.

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Pacific Grove Golf Links

Golf!

Black-tailed Fawns

Saturday Sam and I joined Jim and his father Jim, Sr. for a round at one of out favorite golf courses: Pacific Grove Golf Links.  It's a municipal track on Point Pinos.  I've seen it described as one of the best municipal golf course in the country, and you won't get an argument from me.  Harding Park and the Presidio in San Francisco offer more difficult golf challenges, but Point Pinos is one of the Pacific Coasts most spectacular locations.  What Pacific Grove Golf Links lacks in challenge--from the tips it's a par 70 at 5,732 yards with a rating/slope of 67.9/113--it makes up for in scenic beauty matched only by the Monterey Peninsula's finest course like Pebble Beach and Cypress Point.

Black-tailed Deer --  Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA

You cannot play a round of golf at Pacific Grove without encountering deer.  These are urban deer who are accustomed to being around people.  That makes for some nice opportunities for photographs without even working for them.

Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA

Black-tailed Deer

There's nothing special about the front nine.  The holes are packed tightly into a few block of housing real estate.  I do not like housing development courses, but Pacific Grove isn't that kind of course.  It predates that awful approach to building golf courses.  While the front nine routes through real estate land, few houses actually line the course.  The course borders are often streets rather than back yards.  The back yards that do line the course never seem to come into play.  Well, except for one particular back yard that juts into the course at a hard right angle.  It shouldn't be in play if you're hitting the ball right, but the hole isn't visible for a lot of approach shots on this particular par five so that nasty corner comes into play more than it probably should.

Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA

This course is all about the back nine.  These holes are all out on the point, unprotected from the elements.  The ocean can be seen and the wind elements felt and heard on every fairway.  The holes wind through the dunes which will come into play on wayward shots.  That's the kind of sand you don'tr want to be in.  It is heavy and unforgiving.

Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA

Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA

Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA

The back nine surrounds the Point Pinos Lighthouse on all sides.  It's a cute little lighthouse that makes a nice centerpiece for the dune holes.  How many golf courses have their own functioning lighthouse?  Ha.  I thought of one other: Harbor Town in South Carolina.  Never been there, but that's a course I'd sure like to play.

Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA

Sam and I had planned to go whale watching after the round of golf, but the excursion was cancelled due to high winds and surf.  That was a bummer.  I took Sam to Moss Landing instead to see the raft of sea otters.  Not as dramatic as whales, but still pretty cool.

Sea Otter -- Moss Landing, CA

Sea Otter -- Moss Landing, CA

Sea Otter -- Moss Landing, CA

We saw more brown pelicans than I've ever seen in one place before.  It's hard not to like pelicans.  They look so awkward but sometimes I wonder if they don't take themselves a little less serious than most birds.  We also saw a golden eagle on the other side of 101.  That made for a pretty good day of both golf and animal sightings.

Brown Pelican -- Moss Landing, CA

Brown Pelican -- Moss Landing, CA