Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge

Taking a break from my Butterfly series, I wanted to share some photos from California.

Our daughter Ashley and her hubby Jay moved from New Jersey to San Diego a couple months ago. So we spent a couple of days there over this past weekend. What a delightful trip! And in terms of my wildlife photography wonderfully successful. 

First about "the Trip." They live downtown in a beautifully appointed appartment complex, complete with two bar-b-que areas, swimming pool, weight room ..... Saturday morning we went to the San Diego Fish Market and picked up some Angel Shark and Halibut for dinner. Then over to the Farmer's Market in Little Italy for the side dishes. Jay and Ashley did all the cooking. I didn't have to wear my Chef's Hat (Toque) at all. What a great meal! The shark was perfect and with a peach and avocado salsa was the highlight.

We spent Friday afternoon at Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge and Sunday at the adjacent oceanfront beach. Today I'll show some photos from the Refuge:

Little Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Willet

Little Blue Heron

Long Billed Curlew

Willet

Willet

Next up, a Willet photo taken in Humboldt Bay, California. How lucky was this. He flew right in front of me while I was looking through my camera lens? A rare opportunity:

Willet

National Wildlife Refuges

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, California, 1908

The Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, located in rural northeastern California and southern Oregon, was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 as the nation's first waterfowl refuge. The refuge, with a backdrop of 14,000-foot Mount Shasta to the southwest, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as both a National Historic Landmark and a National Natural Landmark.

The 50,092-acre refuge is a varied mix of intensively managed shallow marshes, open water, grassy uplands, and croplands that provide feeding, resting, nesting, and brood-rearing habitat for waterfowl and other water birds. This refuge is one of the most biologically productive refuges within the Pacific Flyway.

Approximately 80 percent of the flyway's migrating waterfowl pass through the Klamath Basin on both spring and fall migrations, with 50 percent using the refuge. Peak waterfowl populations can reach 1.8 million birds, which represent 15 to 45 percent of the total birds wintering in California. The refuge produces between 30,000 and 60,000 waterfowl annually.

The refuge is also a fall staging area for 20 to 30 percent of the central valley population of sandhill crane. From 20,000 to 100,000 shorebirds use refuge wetlands during the spring migration. Wintering wildlife populations include 500 bald eagle and 30,000 tundra swan. Spring and summer nesting wildlife include many colonial water birds, such as white-faced ibis, heron, egret, cormorant, grebe, white pelican, and gulls. 

I visited LKNWR many times during the mid to late nineties. It is one of the great wildlife refuges in the US. I'll show you a variety of photos that I have taken there.

Lower Klamath at Sunrise

Bald Eagle

Northern Pintail

Red Tailed Hawk along the auto tour and pointing the way to turn

Ross Geese with snow covered mountains in the background

Tundra Swan with Bald Eagle waiting for dinner

Lone Tundra Swan among the Canada Geese

White Fronted Geese with Ross Geese

Willet eating an insect it plucked off the shoreline

National Wildlife Refuges

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, California, 1973

For those of you who have been following my posts on the National Wildlife Refuges, you may be thinking, "Is he really going to do a post on all 555 NWRs?" Well, the short answer is: "No." The longer answer is, "I've only been to about 75 or so. And, not all of those produced photos. Some NWRs like Leslie Canyon and San Bernardino in Southeast Arizona, are less than spectacular and don't yield great wildlife photos. They were set aside to preserve endangered fish and/or amphibians. Many of these NWRs not only don't have "Visitor's Center's," they may not have any roads -- 4x4 or otherwise. Many of them must be explored during different seasons. And many, if not most, need to be visited several times to fully appreciate and know where to look to be able to get close to various species.

But, also sometimes I am just passing through and don't have much time to explore. One such NWR is Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I am not going to do it justice. I took a short hour and a half hike once and have wanted to go back. But haven't found the time yet. This is a NWR that you could spend days at.

Humboldt Bay NWR is located, where else, on Humboldt Bay on the northwest California coast. The refuge has two main purposes: to protect and enhance wetlands and bay habitats for migratory birds, especially black brant, and to protect endangered species and their habitats, including the Humboldt Bay wallflower. The refuge includes one of the most pristine dune ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. It  includes a 14-acre island located less than a mile off the California coast, which contains the largest breeding population of common murres in California and provides a roost for Aleutian cackling geese during migration.

Concentrations of migratory water birds--especially shorebirds--occur in the fall, winter, and spring. In winter, it is not unusual for over 100,000 birds to use the Bay as a feeding or resting site. The main reason for these waterbird concentrations are the eelgrass beds and extensive mudflats. These also make the Bay an important spawning, nursery, and feeding area for fish and other marine life. 

You count 'em shorebirds.

Willet

More from Whitewater Draw

In addition to the several thousand Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw are a hundred or so Snow Geese. Snow Geese spend their summers in the Arctic Circle, where they nest in colonies. They typically winter along the shores of the Gulf of California and Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, their migrations are quite long -- 4000 miles or more. There are a few exceptions. Bosque de Apache in New Mexico and Whitewater Draw in Arizona have small wintering populations. In the first photo you will see 50 or so flying above several thousand Sandhill Cranes. The second photo is a close up of five Snow Geese in flight.

A few other surprises at Whitewater Draw this time. First, a Willet, and then a Green Winged Teal. Willets are year round residents along the Atlantic coast. In the West, they winter along the Pacific Coast and then move inland during the summer to the Northwest Interior. They are relatively rare to the other parts of the Country. But, again Whitewater Draw seems to "draw" waterbirds that otherwise --- in Arizona -- would be hard pressed to find water.  The Green Winged Teal is found throughout the US during the winter, with summers in Canada. There are parts of the Northwestern US where the Green Winged Teal is a year round resident. It is the smallest of the dabbling ducks, and as the photo shows dabbles its bill along the shallow muddy areas of ponds or lakes. 

Sandpipers: Part I

Again, the term is loosely used and debatable. But here are the first four:

The Greater Yellowlegs -- not nearly as good a photo as the others -- I found at Whitewater Draw in Arizona. It is about 14 inches so it larger than a jay, but smaller than a crow. It breeds on the tundra during the summer months, and winters along the southern coasts with an occasional sighting somewhat inland, as it is here at Whitewater Draw:

Greater Yellowlegs

The Willet is typically about 15 inches and likes coastal beaches, freshwater and salt water marshes, lakeshores, and even wet prairies. They are noisey birds with several distinctive calls -- similar to the Killdeer. They separate when feeding but if one Willet takes flight all will follow, as in the second photo. The first photo is from Central Oregon and second from Humboldt Bay, California.

Willet

The Spotted Sandpiper is half the size of a Willet. It winters in the Southernmost part of the United States and winters in throughout the rest of the US and Canada. The spots of the Spotted Sandpiper are only shown during breeding plumage. Otherwise the breast is white. This photo was taken at Lake Cochise in Arizona.

Spotted Sandpiper

The last one for today is the Long Billed Curlew. I am sure I have shown you this before, but since it is listed as a Sandpiper, here it is again. The Long Billed Curlew is quite large, the size of most large hawks, although shorter wingspan. It winters along the Pacific Coast and summers on inland plains. It is a sandpiper less associated with ocean shores.

Long Billed Curlew