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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Northern Shoveler -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
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| Ruddy Duck -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
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| 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.
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| Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
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| Ross's Goose -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
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| Great Horned Owl -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
Great shots! Birders are usually pretty respectful, unlike National Park goers can be.
ReplyDeleteYou must see the best and the worst, huh? The only issues I ever run into with birders is they can get a little territorial. Not often, though. I've learned a lot hanging out with bird nerds I've never met before, and every once in a while I can even share my own nerd knowledge with them.
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