November 17, 2013
Soundtrack:
Honestly, this trip almost ended up being a bit of a bummer. It had a great save at the end, but this trip was looking like it was going to be my first disappointing weekend adventure in a long, long time.
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| Ferruginous Hawk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
It started out by me sleeping in until 11:00. It didn't help that I didn't really have a plan. I knew more about what I didn't want to do than what I wanted to do. In particular, I didn't want to travel too far away. I've got a big trip coming up next week, I wanted to keep it close to home and to take Pongo someplace he'd enjoy. Pinnacles is always option number one where that is concerned. Pongo loves that place. San Luis National Wildlife Refuge has a lot of the same things that make Pinnacles special to Pongo, in particular rabbits and squirrels.
Do rabbits hibernate? I've got to look that up. We didn't see a single rabbit the entire time we were there. We saw a few squirrels. Pongo liked seeing those.
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| Coyote -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
We saw a coyote. I really like coyotes. Actually, I should say that I saw a coyote. Pongo never saw him. Nothing that gets close to the car gets by Pongo. As soon as we hit a dirt road he's glued to the windows looking for birds and critters. He doesn't pick things up that are out in the distance, though. We were probably 100 yards away when the coyote crossed the road and had moved off a ways by the time we got up to that spot. I watched him, but Pongo was too busy looking at squirrels.
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| Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
Tule Elk are always fun to see, but if you've followed this blog at all you know I had a pretty awesome tule elk experience just a few weeks ago at Point Reyes. San Luis really can't compete with point Reyes when it comes to seeing elk. At San Luis all you can do is drive around the elk area and look at them through a big fence. There's no fence at Point Reyes. You're in the same space with the animals.
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| Barn Owl -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
It was the barn owl that saved the trip. I don't think I've ever seen an owl in the wild. This guy (gal?) was just sitting on a fence waiting for me and Pongo to drive by. What a strange looking bird. We were able to get close enough to him that when he dropped from his signpost to the ground to try to kill something for dinner we could hear him land and rustle around.
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| Barn Owl -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
Brown pelicans are just plain goofy looking. Don't tell them that, though, I'm sure they'd take offense. Brown pelicans have become fairly common around here. There are a couple of pilings in the estuary a block from my house where they will often roost.
Turkey vultures are very common in California. It's just about impossible to go for a drive anywhere and not see at least one circling around. They're not the prettiest of birds, but they're one of my favorites. Pinnacles National Park is a great place to see vultures up close. If you're lucky a condor will be around, too. Vultures are big birds, but they don't seem so big when they stand next to a condor.
Brown pelicans are just plain goofy looking. Don't tell them that, though, I'm sure they'd take offense. Brown pelicans have become fairly common around here. There are a couple of pilings in the estuary a block from my house where they will often roost.
Turkey vultures are very common in California. It's just about impossible to go for a drive anywhere and not see at least one circling around. They're not the prettiest of birds, but they're one of my favorites. Pinnacles National Park is a great place to see vultures up close. If you're lucky a condor will be around, too. Vultures are big birds, but they don't seem so big when they stand next to a condor.
I saw a handful of golden eagles this year. Awesome birds. They're hard for me to distinguish from turkey vultures from a distance. They don't wander around in the sky like a vulture, though, they always seem to have a purpose when they're flying. That was the case for the eagles I saw, anyway.
When I took my trip up to Olympic National Park last month I was hoping to see a bald eagle. I didn't see just one, I saw fifteen on that trip. That was a nice surprise. My dad was telling me there used to be one that lived in a tree just a couple of doors down from my parent's house. I've heard they've even been spotted in California, but I've never seen one.
Owls are cool. I've only seen one in the wild so far. It was at the end of what had been up to that point a disappointing trip to San Luis Wildlife Refuge. He/She was standing on a fencepost just as I left the refuge. That trip immediately became a memorable adventure.
