Merced National Wildlife Refuge

February 15, 2016

I had three days off last weekend.  A lot of people did, apparently.  I went out to Point Reyes on Sunday and it was a nightmare.  There were people everywhere.  The roads were closed in some places.  I had gone out to see the elephant seals but couldn't get to the lookout point.  I just drove home without doing anything.

Black-necked Stilt -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I was determined to have a better experience on Monday.  Pongo and I went to Merced National Wildlife Refuge.  A place like that would never get very crowded, I figured.

Northern Shoveler & Cinnamon Teal -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

There were more people there than on a normal weekend day, but I was basically right.  We saw maybe twenty cars over the course of the auto tour.  That's probably a little more than average, but it never felt crowded.  Plus, these people were all fellow nature nerds, meaning waves and smiles and the occasional brief conversation about birds and wildlife during brief encounters.  It's a very different crowd from my other nerd clan, the record store nerds.  There, we're all convinced of our superiority to all the other nerds in terms of taste in music and collected catalog.  No smiles.  No conversation.  Just smug looks of mutual condescension.

Northern Shoveler -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Ruddy Duck -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Ross's Goose -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

There's not much of a narrative to this day.  It was a fairly typical trip to the refuge.  We saw a lot of squirrels and rabbits, which Pongo loves to see.  He thought about jumping out the window to give chase a couple of times but was able to stifle those urges on this trip.  We saw a couple of great horned owls.  More often than not we see owls at this refuge.  We saw sandhill cranes, but none were close to the road.

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Ross's Goose -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Lake Merritt

Here Comes the Rain Again

February 2, 2014

Yoshika was down in Los Angeles this weekend, so I had to stick close to home to take care of the dogs.  It was raining on Sunday, which was a good thing.  It's only the second rain of the winter.  It's looking like it's going to be a very dry year.

Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

I went to Lake Merritt late in the day to take a few pictures.  Nothing too exciting, frankly.  The sky was overcast, but the sun was shining through a bright patch of open sky above the lake.  Well, it was until it fell behind a bunch of gray clouds.  There were a lot of birds on the water, and I finally caught a glimpse of the rare tufted duck on the lake.

Tufted Duck -- Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

The tufted duck has been wintering at the lake the last few years.  That's what I've read online, anyway.  He blends in well with the dozens of scaups that inhabit the lake.  He blends in so well, in fact, that I didn't realize I'd seen him until I got home and looked at the pictures.  I zeroed in on him in a few pictures because he did seem to stand out a little from the rest of the ducks, but not enough for me to realize I was looking at a different type of bird altogether.

Black-crowned Night Heron -- Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

The black-crowned night herons were hanging out. as usual.  These birds like to nest in the trees in Chinatown and leave awful messes on the cars that park underneath the trees.  I know this from experience.  It's amazing how close they'll let people approach them in the park, though.  All of the birds seem to be like that.  I've stood within two feet of a great egret near the nature center on a previous visit.  I guess they're used to people feeding them.

A cooper's hawk was checking out what was on the menu near the visitor center.  Again, I was able to get pretty close to the bird.  He eventually flew off.  I guess he wasn't too interested in having duck for dinner.

I think it was a cooper's hawk anyway.  I'm not completely convinced.  A couple walked up while i was taking pictures and took a few stabs at identifying it.  I could only tell them why it wasn't a harrier or a peregrine falcon or a kestrel, I couldn't tell them with any conviction what it actually was.

Black-crowned Night Heron -- Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

Anyway, it was nice to have a little rain.  It wasn't nearly enough to put much of a dent in the current drought, and I'm not grumbling about the warm, sunny days we've been experiencing, but it was a nice reminder that we're still deep in winter.  Here's hoping we get a few big storms passing through in the upcoming weeks.  The state desperately needs it.

Ruddy Duck -- Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA