I took a drive on a rare sunny day in February recently to check on the snow geese and sandhill cranes and see if they had started their migration back north yet. The weather was cold in Santa Clara and snow had dusted the surrounding hilltops, but the weather report promised sunny skies in the Central California Valley.
Merced has been a favorite of mine because I can get there within about 1.5 hrs with little traffic. It always has a great assortment of birds year 'round, and I have spotted other creatures there, too, including coyotes, a skunk, lots of bunnies and ground squirrels and an occasional owl. It was the first place I spotted huge flocks of snow geese 3 years ago, having had disappointing results at the larger Sacramento Wildlife Complex at the time. Sandhill Cranes are also fairly common there, and in high numbers in the winter. It is also one of the very best places for some outstanding sunset shots.
As I entered the valley from highway 152, I could see clear blue skies and the clouds of the valley hanging just over the hills behind me. That would mean an early sunset and probably not enough light late in the day, but possibly another nice colorful sunset. It was still early enough in the day, so I decided to take a detour to the nearby San Luis refuge before ending at Merced.
The San Luis refuge is probably best known for its protected herd of tule elk, which you can almost alwas spot in a large fenced area. I have also found it's a great spot for viewing hawks of all kinds as well as Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons.
The hawks were out circling in the warm air above and made several passes directly overhead. Just past the tule elk area, sheep with lambs were grazing in the field. The lambs were probably a month or so old and were having a lot of fun, so I stopped to watch for awhile.
There were no snow geese or cranes at San Luis, but I did see a very small group of maybe four or five Tundra Swans at the same spot where I had seen a small group last year. They are no doubt the same swans or relatives, since most groups of tundras are much larger.
Just outside the reserve, the farmer had slightly flooded the fields and Great Egrets, Herons and Red-Winged Blackbirds were having a field day, so to speak, hunting for insects and frogs in the small puddles.
I headed over to Merced, as it was near 3PM and the clouds from the hills were starting to spread over the valley, leaving a dark shadow below them. I was lucky enough to outrun them and as I started the zigzag that leads the the Merced refuge, along Turner Island, I stopped in my tracks. Off in the irrigation ditch was a wet, brown mammal. I turned the car around and pulled up next to it and immediately the creature dove under the water. I decided to wait a bit for it to come back up so I shut off the engine and readied my camera. After a few moments, the animal surfaced and I got a closer look. At first I had thought it was a nutria, but I was fairly familiar with these creatures, having spent 2 years in Oregon watching them go about their lives in a little pond below my apartment balcony. I did a little research when I got home and came to the conclusion that this was actually a muskrat.
I was pretty excited as this was the first time I had seen one of these creatures in the wild, and did not expect to find one out in daylight by the side of the road. We watched each other for a little while before I bade the little creature goodbye and headed on toward Merced, in search of geese and cranes.
At Merced, I was amazed to see huge groups of white geese crowded in the fields and near the water. It seemed as if more geese from other areas had joined the regular winter group here.
Cranes were also flying overhead in small groups. Also at the refuge were the usual Northern Shovelers, Pintails, Black-Necked Stilts, White-Faced Ibises, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Marsh Wrens, Golden-Crowned Sparrows, Killdeers, and Coots. It was still too early for swallows, but clouds of young mosquitos were already swarming at sunset. I rounded the water and headed to my favorite sunset-shooting spot, near the corn fields and heard a cacophony of voices. Ross's Geese and Sandhill Cranes were gathering in close groups right near a clearing of dried corn stalks. It was the biggest and louded group I think I have ever been that close to and the evening fly-out was in better light than usual, since the days are getting a little bit longer. Steady streams of geese and cranes passed overhead, leaving their daytime spots in the pond for a nightime resting place in the field. It was a truly magical moment. I will miss these big birds when they take their leave and head back to Alaska to raise their young, but maybe if I'm lucky I'll have time to make one more visit before they go.
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