In my part of the world this week's weather has been a hit-and-miss of rain, no rain, sun, no sun and warm and then chilly. But on a warm and sunny day earlier this week, the senior software engineering guy and I met up with some friends and spent the day communing with Nature...and ducks, geese, mosquitoes and other denizens of the natural world. [I even had a baby rattler scare itself and me by scuttling right across the walkway not two inches from my foot. Yes, I'm afraid of any and all snakes.] There is an amazing place in northern California that sits between two major highways and a major and lesser city: the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge. This unique wetlands is located along the Pacific Flyway and right now is full of flocks of ducks, geese, the American Coot and many other birds.
The Refuge has a 2-mile walking trail and a car route. For this visit we chose the car route. For most of the way you cannot get out of your vehicle so most of our photos were taken from the car out the open windows. There were just a few "stop and stretch" spots [as they called them] and about halfway through a nice place to stop with an overview place. In the photo above we did see a pair of muskrat but were not able to get a photo of them. Also there was a big grey heron in the grasses way down and mid-way was a cormorant.
Our first sighting of anything, when we started our tour, was a small group [4] of mule deer. Even though they were in the tall grasses on my side of the car, I had a devil of a time seeing them! See if you can spot them in this photo:
No? They blended in so well. So in my computer art shop this morning I cropped close to them and 'took out' the heavy shadows so you can see them better:
Another creature I spotted from the car window, who thought it was in hiding, was a white heron. Oh, need to warn you, I couldn't help myself, I had to get all art-y with this one:
I've lived in California for most of my life - born in Oakland, grew up in the Central Valley. Left for a time then came back again. I've always watched the annual progression of birds come and go as the seasons changed. I've always heard of 'Ducks Unlimited' but never knew what it was. Our trip this week made me curious so I looked up their website. They are all about conservation. Cool. From their website: "...Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation...." Their mission is all about habitat conservation; which is what the Sac Wildlife Refuge is all about too.
I have four more photos I'd like to share with you. One is a cool one I was fortunate to get as a great flock took to the sky. Then others that I had fun adding some artistic touches to:
Before I put in the final photo, which I love for the sky and mood it shows, I just wanted to mention the 2013 Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway which will be January 24-27, 2013 in the Chico CA area. Look them up...well worth planning a vacation for. [Think I'll work on a couple of my art photos for the art show that is a part of the festival!] Hope you like this last look:
If you enjoyed this look at a California wetlands, share in the comments section where you're from and what natural wonders your area has that you enjoy.
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