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