2BP: Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge and Mount Shasta

February 25, 2016

A made an unexpected road trip last week.  I got a phone call from my dad about ten days ago.  Mom was in the hospital for heart surgery.  It was Wednesday night.  Surgery would be on Friday.

That's not the kind of phone call you want to get.

Marsh Wren -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Black-tailed Jackrabbit

I decided to drive up Thursday and stay until Mom got settled back at home for recovery.  The foster dog situation was a little crazy at my home (my wife runs a dog rescue organization) so she asked me to take Pongo along.  No problem there, He's a good travelling companion and I could use the company.  Plus, I wasn't planning on doing much adventuring but it gave me a reason to at least get out and do short versions of the dog-friendly variety since he'd be spending a good chunk of his time in a crate.

Black-tailed Jackrabbit -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Stopping at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge has become pretty standard for us when driving up Interstate 5 in the colder months.  Pongo and I both enjoy the auto loop.  He hangs out the window and watches the birds and rabbits while I slowly drive and stop for pictures.  There are a couple of places where we can stop and stretch our legs and there are a few short trails for strolling.

Snow Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Pacific Pond Turtle & Cinnamon Teal -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Red-shouldered Hawk -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge is one of the best places I know for getting good hawk photos.  They often sit in the trees alongside the auto route and aren't spooked by cars.  It's almost too easy to get nice shots.

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

Greater White-fronted Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Greater White-fronted Goose

Another regular stop is near Weed, CA.  There's a rest stop there.  Near the rest stop are some train tracks, and from that spot near the train tracks is one of the best views of Mount Shasta that I know of.  I'm no expert, mind you.  I stop for photos there now on every drive up I-5.  The mountain has so many moods that I'm never bored with shooting from that same location.

Mount Shasta, CA

Colusa & Sacramento National Wildlife Refuges

January 30, 2016

It's winter in California.  In the mountains that means snow.  Most people don't think of snow and winter sport when they think of California, but the Sierras are the tallest mountain range in the lower forty-eight with world class ski resorts in some area.  The Winter Olympics were hosted here in 1968.  We don't get much snow in the Central Valley.  There, winter is all about the birds.  Well, at least it is for me.

Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Mallard -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA

A lot of birds winter in California.  Growing up in Oregon, I was used to seeing the ducks and geese flying overhead in spring and fall.  I never really wondered where they were headed, but now I know.  Most were heading to California's Central Valley.  Some birds actually winter in Oregon, but I wasn't aware of that either.  It's only been within the last few years that I've developed an decent understanding of bids' migratory habits.

Green-winged Teal -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Gadwall

My first stop on Saturday was at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.  It was my first time there.  It's a nice refuge to visit, next time I'll bring Pongo along.  He went with my wife and our other dog Charlie to the dog park instead of joining me on this trip.  I think he'll like it.  It has a three mile auto tour and a nice walking trail alongside one of the big ponds.

Snow Goose -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Greater White-fronted Goose -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Northern Shoveler -- Colusa National Wildife Refuge, CA

I guess I should have mentioned earlier, if you're not interested in pictures of birds that are commonly seen in these Central Valley refuges you won't find much of interest in this post.

Northern Pintail -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Northern Pintail

This entry should give you a pretty good idea of why I don't consider myself to be a birder.  There are no rarities here.  Most of these birds can be found by the hundreds--if not thousands--at any of the valley's refuges.  I suspect most birders wouldn't even bother with pictures of northern shovelers or pintails.  It only takes the effort of driving to a refuge to guarantee seeing one of these birds.  I don't really get off on seeing rarities.  I'm not even after bird shots, necessarily.  A coyote or otter sighting is much more exciting to me than any bird I've ever seen.  I'm not judging one way or another, I just see a difference between what I'm up to and what I see on a lot of bird blogs.  I follow a lot of bird blogs, it's a great way to learn about birds.

Pacific Pond Turtle -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Great Horned Owl -- Colusa National Wildife Refuge, CA

At the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, I saw a couple of things I've never seen before.  First, I saw a redhead.  That's a lifer bird, for me.

Redhead -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Second, I saw a patrol car at the entrance of the refuge.  It was there when I arrived and still there when I left.  I'm sure it was present in response to the knuckleheads who have occupied the Malheur refuge.  I don't care for politics, but the wildlife refuges and National Park System are undoubtedly the one thing this country has gotten right.  I have no respect for what these gun-wielding idiots have done up there in Oregon and it angers me to see law enforcement officers posted guard in front of a wildlife sanctuary (and hunting ground).  These few salvaged spots belong to all of us: person, beast and fowl.  Ninety-five percent of the Central Valley has been taken up by farming, ranching and urban development, it's imperative that we save that remaining five percent for posterity.

OK, I'm done.  Hopefully it'll be another three years or more before I get up on a soapbox again.

Cinnamon Teal -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Thanksgiving 2015: Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

November 22, 2015

For me, Thanksgiving means making the annual trek up to Oregon for a get together with with my extended family.  It's a large gathering.  This year there were sixty-five people or so.  That's maybe slightly above average, but only by a few people.  I think the largest we ever had was ninety folks.  It's not held in a house, it's in a church gymnasium.

Northern Pintail -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Northern Pintail

This year was a little different than usual.  Since Sam moved out a few years ago I've been taking the entire week off and making the drive up a cold-weather road trip.  I spend four or five days by myself camping and seeing the sites.  This year Pongo joined me.  It was the dog's longest trip to date.  Six days.  We had quite a nice adventure together.

Northern Pintail -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Our first stop on the drive up was at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.  It's one of our day trip destinations so we are both familiar with it.  There are a couple of trails we can walk on and the auto tour can be spectacular in the winter.  The weather was perfect, cool but not cold with enough clouds in the sky to make wide shots interesting.

Ring-billed Duck -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Snow Goose

This particular refuge can be a decent place for spotting mammals.  We've seen deer and raccoons and a lone coyote.  I'm always hoping to see an otter but have never seen one.  Truthfully, I'm not sure there even are otters at his location.  I've heard mountain lions are occasionally spotted at these Central Valley complexes.  Rarely, actually.  That would be awesome.  I don't know how Pongo would react.  He tried to jump out the window and chase the last raccoons we saw there.  Silly dog.  We didn't see any mammals on this trip.  Lotsa ducks and geese, though.

Snow Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Snow Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Red-tailed Hawk

Pongo's ears perk up whenever he hears a flock of geese.  He enjoys watching the big birds.  The auto tours in general are a lot of fun for him, I guess.  He likes to hang out the passenger window as we drive slowly around the gravel roads.  That door has a lot of light scratches on it now from Pongo's sightseeing.  That's OK, we never sell our cars anyway, we just drive them until they die.

Hawks and harriers are common sights at the refuge.  The hawks like to sit in the trees that ring the auto tour which is cool because it creates nice photo opportunities.  Harriers are tougher to photograph.  They land on the ground far from the road when they aren't flying around.  I've seen dozens of harriers here but I've never been able to get a decent photo of one at this location.

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Pongo

After the refuge we headed up to Lava Beds National Monument where we'd camp for the night.  It was cold!  The campgrounds were almost empty, so that was nice.  Normally Pongo and I sleep in the car.  It was a little extra crowded in there with Pongo's crate and pillow, so we slept in the tent instead.  It was Pongo's first night in a tent.  He did pretty well.  It took him a little while to get used to the sounds of the tent in the breeze but he settled in OK.

Mount Shasta, CA

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Soundtrack:

• Bruce Springsteen -- Darkness on the Edge of Town / Born to Run
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience -- Electric Ladyland

Merced National Wildlife Refuge

January 31, 2015

Soundtrack:

• Steve Martin & Edie Brickell -- Love Has Come for You
• White Stripes -- Get Behind Me Satan

While I wouldn't say Pongo and I got skunked last weekend at San Luis, it was not one of our more interesting visits to a wildlife refuge.  We didn't sit around and lick our wounds, though, we jumped right back in on Saturday with a trip to Merced National Wildlife Refuge, which is just a few miles away from San Luis and is part of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex.  We had a lot better luck on Saturday.

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Snow Goose

You'll notice in these first couple of pictures that the sky is gray.  That's smog.  It was actually a bright, sunny day.  From what I understand, that smog doesn't all come from the residents of the Central Valley.  A lot of that is Bay Area smog that gets blown inland.  Smog isn't a problem where I live and this is why, our strong coastal winds haul it all off to Modesto and Merced.  Sorry, Central Valley folks.  It's so not cool.

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Great Horned Owl

The best part of the day came about half way through the auto tour.  There's a little trail that loops through what I imagine is marsh in non-drought years.  In the middle of that marsh is a small group of trees, and sitting in one of those trees were two great horned owls.  Holy cow.  The sun was behind the birds, but luckily the trail took us right by the tree so I was able to get a lot of photos with the sun at my back.

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Great Horned Owl

Even with the sun in the right spot it was tough to get good photos.  The branches had no leaves but they were still quite dense.  I don't think I got even one clear shot of either of the owls, but I still got plenty I was happy with.  I also had to deal with the fact that auto focus is broken on my 250mm lens.  Actually, that probably didn't hinder me too much since the camera would have struggled with all the different branches and things to draw its attention.  If I'd had my tripod I could have used the touch screen to choose the focus point, but I left it in the car.  I simply wasn't expecting anything this exciting.

Can you blame me for humming the Totoro song all the way back to the car?  If these guys had fur instead of feathers and a nose instead of a beak I'd have had my eyes peeled for a catbus.  Well, except Totoro is nice, and these just looked like they were sizing me and Pongo up for a potential meal.

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

It wasn't just the owl sighting that made the trip a success, though.  This refuge has more snow geese and sandhill cranes than I've ever seen in any one place.  The Sacramento refuge has a lot of geese, but not like this.

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I found a nice place to stop the car for a while to watch the geese and cranes.  Unfortunately, the cranes were too far away for my cameras, so you'll have to take my word for it that they were entertaining to watch.  I have a few pictures of the show the geese put on, though.  At one point thousands of them took to the air and flew around in circles like you'd expect from a flock of starlings.  It's cool when starlings do it, but because of their size and propensity to honk in flight it's a whole other thing when the geese do it.  Pongo enjoyed this part, although he lost interest in the birds when a rabbit hopped up to a spot about ten feet from the corner.  He didn't lose focus on that rabbit until we pulled out to finish the tour.

Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We saw one more owl on our way out of the refuge.  The bird was too far away to get a decent photo with my 250mm lens, so I switched to the SX50.  I loaned my old SX40 to my mom and she lost it so she bought me this camera as a replacement even though I told her not to.  Parents, they never listen, do they?  It's been gathering dust in my garage since Thanksgiving, but it has about four times the reach of my  250mm lens so I thought I'd see how it works as a supplemental camera.  The photo quality isn't nearly as good, but I was able to get a few shots I'd have had to just pass on without it, so I'll probably start bringing it along on a regular basis.

Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Finally, on the way home we stopped on the side of the highway to see some cows.  Pongo loves cows.  He gets nervous when we get close to them, though.  These cows seemed as interested in Pongo as he was in them.  Every time he'd get too nervous and look away one of the cows would moo and draw him back to the window.  So silly.