We flew to San Francisco, rented a car and immediately headed north. Our destination was Calusa National Wildlife Refuge, north and west of Sacramento. Our target here was the Falcated Duck, an East Asian bird that seldom shows up in North America. It had been at this refuge for over two weeks and seen nearly every day.
The viewing platform was just inside the entrance and it was quite clear that the duck was not being seen, as folks were looking in all directions. Turns out the duck had not been seen at all that day. We got out, nonetheless, and made a few photographs of the habituated White-fronted Geese and other waterfowl within close distance to the viewing platform.
With no duck in sight, we decided to take the three mile wildlife drive where one has to stay in the car. The birds in the ponds here are quite skittish as hunting is permitted in the southern part of the refuge. We saw nothing in particular new except over thirty Black-crowned Night Herons sleeping in bushes across a canal like body of water.
Returning to the viewing platform, the scene had changed. Most people were looking in one direction, and there was the Falcated Duck sleeping on a nearby log. I took some photographs, but the angle was not good and the bird had its head underneath its wing. So we got in the car, drove adjacent to the log and I photographed out the right window as Chris manipulated the car. Every few minutes the bird would wake up and look around for a second or two as I snapped away. Then head back under the wing. Finally, it awoke, preened, and then jumped in the water and began foraging.
I returned to the viewing platform. The duck was close and easy to photograph, but the light was bad. It was dark, so the irridescence on the head of the duck did not appear green. After a while it became obvious that conditions were not going to change, so we departed. We were going to drive back down to San Francisco, but both of us were too tired to contemplate this. We had arisen at 3:50 EST! We got a motel at nearby Williams for the night.
We were up well before dawn and after a quick breakfast, returned to the refuge. We did not see the duck, so continued on to the loop. It was a gorgeous sunrise, so I stopped and took a number of photos with leafless trees in the foreground.
As we were about to exit the loop, suddenly there was a flock of turkeys in the road. The trotted off as we approached, but after escorting the hens twenty yards into the brush, the tom turned and ran right at the car. I thought he was going to jump right into the window, but he went to the front of the car to check things out. Concluding that we were not rivals, he ambled back off and returned to the hen flock. Unfortunately, I could not get a good image as he never hestitated and there was insufficient light for a good shot with him moving.
The duck was not present, so we elected to go to the Sacramento property of the wildlife complex. On the way out, there were Ring-necked pheasant cocks on both sides of the road in sparse vegetation. They ran quickly to whatever cover was available as we approached, frustrating my attempts for a good photograph.
At the Sacramento property, there was more territory and birds less skittish. We added Cinnamon Teal, Ring-necked Duck and Bufflehead, all of which I photographed. I also got a mellow Red-tailed Hawk right by the side of the road. These birds were very common in our drive in the Central Valley. We were running out of time by the time we had completed the loop at Sacramento, but still wanted a final photo opportunity of the duck. We returned to Calusa, but the duck was sleeping again in its old location, so we headed south to Carmel.
On the way I began to get sick and ended up in the ER in Carmel that evening. The diagnosis was a bladder infection and the next four days were not at all pleasant.
Before leaving the Carmel area, we made a brief stop in Pacific Grove to view and photograph the Monarchs that winter there. Turns out all the Monarchs east of the Rockies winter in the well-publisized mountain area of Mexico. Those from west of the Rockies winter in several locations along the central CA coast, including Santa Cruz and Pacific Grove. There were not anywhere near as many butterflies in the latter location as in Mexico, but still interesting to see branches full of the Monarchs, resting in torpur.
On January 2, we drove north to Point Reyes National Seashore. The Visitors Center there had abundant California Quail scurrying about, as usual and I was able to make some very nice photographs of this stunning bird. Also, this time I noticed pocket gophers in the median strip between the parking lot and the access road. They apparently reside there to defend themselves from their predators that are unlikely to attack with all those people around! This is an odd rodent, what with its very prominent incisors.
After lunch we drove into the reserve itself and headed north to Tomales Point where there is an elk reserve behind a high fence. In 1978 ten animals were reintroduced here, eight cows and two bulls. They have prospered. There are now over 400 in the elk reserve proper and another 100 south of this area that can roam the entire reserve.
We easily located about twenty elk adjacent to the road, but unfortunately the fog was thick, making photography problematic. I did make a few photographs of cows, but the dominent bull was nowhere to be seen. We knew he was around this harem somewhere, but apparently bedded down out of sight. There were young spike bulls, which are tolerated by the prime bull, but these are hardly photographically attractive.
We drove further north and stopped at the parking lot for McClures Beach. Here we hiked to the ocean for some good salt air before returning to the car and heading south. This time the dominent bull elk was present and I made a number of photographs. However, the fog was still present, so they are not clear shots.
After fifteen minutes or so of working the bull, we drove further along. This area is dominated by legacy dairy farms and the country is rolling grass covered hills. At one point, Stephanie, yelled out “look at that.” There were two holstein cows herding a skunk out of “their” field. It was about the most amazing and amusing thing I have even seen in the wild. Once through the barbed wire fence, the skunk continued to forage in the sparse vegetation between the fence and the road. I jumped out with my 400 and made photographs as best I could, although he was usually partially obscured.
At one point he decided to cross the road. I blocked his path so I could get some decent images. He raised his tail and sprayed a very minor shot of musk to let me know I needed to back off! He then crossed the road, went under the fence and continued to forage in that other field. I elected not to climb the fence and follow.
You can see the images from this trip on my Facebook page.