Salton Sea Birds
One of the great joys of living in California four years ago was discovering the burrowing owls at the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge on the Salton Sea in Southern California’s Imperial Valley.
On my trip to view the wildflower bloom in the desert, I stopped by specifically to look for them. I was not disappointed.
Read the rest of this entry »Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
May 2011
I have several GB of images I’ve never gotten around to editing. I found this folder while looking for another old file, and decided to edit it. Unfortunately these were taken with the Nikon D80 and the sharpness is not good. They look fine on the web, though. Read the rest of this entry »
Bald Eagles
Juvenile Bald Eagle
A family of bald eagles lives in Lockwood, California, not far from Fort Hunter Liggett.
I saw this adult, and then a few minutes later saw two juveniles. One had caught a ground squirrel and landed in an oak tree to eat it. Read the rest of this entry »
Pretty Pintails
Northern pintail drake
Several northern pintail ducks at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge near Sacramento, California were at the pond at the beginning of the auto tour. The soft light brought out the subtle colors and designs in their plumage.
Between snoozing, preening, swimming and feeding, the pintails deserve a post of their own. Read the rest of this entry »
Colusa NWR Birds
Black-necked stilt
It was another foggy day at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, but it didn’t seem to bother the birds much at the Colusa NWR to the south. Read the rest of this entry »
Morro Bay Birds
Morro Rock
Morro Bay and the coastline to the north and south of it is my favorite part of the California Coast. It is also the most picturesque and interesting from my point of view. Read the rest of this entry »
Sacramento NWR in the Fog – Day 2
Tundra Swans
Even though the thick fog kept me inside until noon and persisted all day, it lent a beautiful background with muted palette to the photographs. There were perhaps thousands of tundra swans in the wet fields enroute to the Llano Seco unit northwest of the main refuge, and the above image is by far my favorite of the day. Read the rest of this entry »
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge – Day 1
Snow Goose
A lot has happened since my last post (moving to California for one), so I have some catching up to do. But first I’ll share the most recent images of my travels. Three-day weekends give an opportunity for mini-expeditions, and I chose the Sacramento NWR for its winter birdlife.
Northern Shrike
This is the first time I’ve seen a northern shrike up close, and it caught the waning light of the afternoon before the sun dipped behind the clouds on the horizon. Read the rest of this entry »
A Touch of Nature in Maryland
I’m visiting Maryland at the moment, and had a chance to visit the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center during some down time. Several sweet whitetail does posed pretty for me. This gal has a floppy ear for some reason. Read the rest of this entry »
Caddo Maples
Caddo Maples, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Okla.
Walking through a forested canyon in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Okla., I felt like I was back in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park in Texas. Big Bend was the first park I worked at when the Great Recession ended my art business, and it changed my life. Read the rest of this entry »
