Cranes & Geese

Sandhill Crane, Woodbridge Ecological Reserve

I left the house at 4:30 a.m., planning to greet the sunrise with the cranes. I didn't make up my mind which refuge to visit until I was well on my way to the Central Valley. The choices were Staten Island, Cosumnes River Preserve, or Woodbridge -- each of which had its own advantages. I second-guessed my choice of Woodbridge when I arrived to find very few cranes.

A farmer who'd rented out hunting blinds near the cranes stopped to chat, worried that I would scare away the birds with my camera. He thought the crane numbers were so unusually low because rice, rather than corn, had been the last field crop. Indeed, I'd hoped to once again watch the cranes play with old corn stalks during their beautiful dances.

The farmer didn't know where the masses of cranes were, but he did tell me that Staten Island was a bust. I later drove up to Cosumnes River and found it a bust there as well. My next stop was Colusa National Wildlife Refuge north of Sacramento, which was very foggy and where the Auto Tour Route was closed due to flooding. A traveler there told me that nearby Gray Lodge NWR was also closed. 

I kept heading north as far as Sacramento NWR which turned out to be excellent (geese galore! bald eagles!), then drove home via the beautiful Hwy. 16 along Cache Creek through the Capay Valley to I-505.

Peaceful Dawn with Waning Quarter Moon

I couldn't resist the great blue heron's mirrorlike reflection in the canal...

...and I was surprised when he almost instantly made a stab at something underwater (which he missed).

Sunrise in the Valley

Lunar Fly-by

Sunrise in the Fog

Tundra Swans

The cranes were mainly resting, probably looking forward to being warmed up by the rising sun.

I was watching this group of cranes with a local photographer when a car drove down the levee road behind the birds, frightening them into the air. I have to wonder if the idea that getting out of the car scares away the birds is a myth.

In any event, the local photographer and I had both been standing on the road outside our cars for quite a while without disturbing the cranes.

The morning light finally burned off the fog and created some nice light on the brightly plumed sandhill cranes resting on the valley's rich, dark soil.

Stretching the Wings

Small Group of Cranes Relaxing in a Field

Coming in for a landing, this crane was sporting a brightly colored leg band.

Landing Zone

Looking for Num-Nums

Gliding to a Landing

As the morning progressed, a few more cranes flew into view from the north, but most kept on heading south of the reserve.

It was a beautiful morning to watch the cranes.

A couple of red-winged blackbirds sang their hearts out along the side of the road.

I spotted this large flock of snow geese along the side of the road near the Colusa NWR. Thankfully there was a small pull-out that allowed me to pull over and check them out.

(Cropped section of previous image.)

Wild Turkeys in the Fog at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge

The Scavengers, Colusa NWR

Turkey Vulture

A couple of good-looking birds.

A small herd of deer was hanging out close to where I saw the turkeys.

A northern pintail stretches out his wings.

Tighter Crop

Trail in the Fog at Colusa NWR

There were no geese visible inside the refuge, but this big group was working a field right across the street.

A few white-fronted geese hung out on the edge of the group of snow geese.

A pair of snow geese dropping in to join the crowd.

You could just make out Lassen Peak from the Sacramento NWR.

The snow geese obligingly rose up en masse a couple of times due to reasons I couldn't determine.

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

The diving eagle leaped off his tenuous branch to land on a thicker branch nearby.

The remaining eagle commenced to call out its staccato screeching call.

Another bald eagle was hanging out by itself a little farther along the auto tour route. I'd never been able to see one up close like this before.

Snow Geese, Snow Mountain

Snow Mountain was living up to its name. That's a northern shoveler (a common visitor to Blue Heron Lake) paddling below the line of snow geese.

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