Immerse Yourself in Waterfowl (Plan Your Visit)

This late fall and through the winter is a great time to immerse yourself into the great waterfowl migration of California's Central Valley. Waterfowl and shorebirds of all types are drawn down from the Arctic, Alaska and Canada to feed and winter in the valley. One of the best places to do this is at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is the winter home to 600,000 to well over one million ducks and geese. The refuge is open seven days a week from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. There is a visitor center with small exhibits and a bookstore with hours from 9am to 4pm seven days a week November through February. The visitor center also has binoculars and field guides that can be checked out for a closer look at the birds. Starting at the visitor center there is also a 2 mile long wetland trail for car tired kids and adults to explore. The highlight of any trip to the refuge has to be the auto tour. The tour starts at the visitor center and it takes a circular six mile one way trip through the refuge with grasslands and ponds on both sides of the roadway along the way. Typical sights to see are large flocks of flying, resting and feeding waterfowl. You also have the chance to see many raptors, Redtail Hawks, Peregrine Falcons and Marsh Harriers. It is not uncommon to see shorebirds,Great Blue Herons, Egrets and Snowy Egrets. River Otter, beaver and Blacktail deer have been observed as well. You must remain in your car, but three stop and stretch spots are available for you to get out of your car; this includes one observation deck to get a grand view of the refuge. The best times to visit are early in the morning or late evening. The main refuge is located seventy miles north of Sacramento just off of I-5 between Maxwell and Willows. From either the north or the south take the Road 68 exit. Go north on HWY 99W (frontage road) for 1.7 miles, and turn right into the refuge. The day use fee is six dollars, or be in possession of a a current federal duck stamp. Federal duck stamps can be purchased beforehand at any United States Post Office, and they help support waterfowl all over the United States. So plan a trip to the refuge and immerse yourself in the migration. God's blessings upon your journeys, chris All images were created with either a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera or a Canon EOS T1i camera with a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Late Evening Drive Through SNWR

Saturday night I made a late evening drive through Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. I went just before sunset and the sun was very close to dropping down over the coast range. There weren't many waterfowl. It was cold and the wind was positively howling. I stopped and photographed a few ducks and some scenic images along the auto tour as I went. By the time I left the refuge it was pretty dark. After leaving the refuge I drove along Road 160 North of the refuge. In the dark I could see thousands and thousands of Snow Geese feeding in the flooded rice fields there. I stopped the car and put down the windows to listen. It was fantastic to hear that many geese. Such an incredible sound! It's music for the soul. God's blessings upon your week, chrisAll images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera. #TeamCanon

Guest Photographer

Yesterday morning Annika and I made a quick morning trip through part of the Central Valley. Then we made a stop at one of the northern units of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Llano Seco. We had our best time there photographing mostly Pintail Ducks with a few Northern Shovelers and Widgeon. Leaving there we hit the auto tour of the refuge and there wasn't the abundance of waterfowl we were hoping for. We diid stop and photograph one Great Egret that held still for a long time. I love the valley in winter time. The sights and sounds of all the waterfowl are just delightful. Here are a nice selection of Annika's beautiful images. God's love and blessings to all, chris Annika created all of these images with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Beauty in Chaos

This morning there are scattered showers with gray, cloudy skies and the wind is blowing. Wow, such a contrast to yesterday when I was over in the Sacramento Valley and it was sunny with temperatures well over 80 degrees. There was the heavenly scent of almond blossoms in the air. I spent this morning going through the rest of my images from the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. I picked out one unusual image to share today. A myriad of black branches criss - crossing the sunset sky. Everything is in chaos but there is beauty shining through. Hmmnnn... that sounds a lot like life. God's love shining through the darkness. May you have a great day, chris Image created with a Canon 7D anda Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm. Camera was braced on the cars window sill. AV mode, ISO 400, F 8.0 at 1/80th of a sec.

Fading Light

Yesterday evening Lenore and I were heading up I-5 and it was getting close to sunset. I asked Lenore if she wanted to take a detour from our route and take the auto tour through Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. She readily agreed as we sped northward. We could see a beautiful sunset in the making as we hurried along towards the refuge exit. After pulling it the refuge we literally ran to get the cameras out of the back of the car and onto the auto route. The lighting was really soft when we found our first subject a shore bird in one of the first ponds we passed. Further on we the captured some snow geese landing almost next to the tour route. By the time we made it to the observation deck on the east end of the refuge the sun was down and there was an incredible sunset in full swing. I caught a flock of Ibis flying by and the I was into capturing the sunset and whatever silhouettes I could grab. What a gorgeous way to end the day! God's love and blessings to all, chris

It Takes some Patience

Yesterday I drove the auto loop at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. This time of the year the refuge is mostly dry with a few ponds and it is devoid of the flocks of thousands upon thousands of ducks and geese. There is a lot of wildlife to be found in the form of rabbits, squirrels, hawks, dove and a few families of geese and as always ever present American Coots. The bird that fascinated me the most were the Marsh Wrens. They could be found around several of the ponds every thirty of forty feet or so. As I drove slowly along there would be a male on the highest bulrush singing its heart out to claim its territory. As soon as my pick up got close enough they would dive down into the cattails and continue singing from there. You could catch glimpses of them and the cattails moving but they wouldn't come out. I found that the easiest thing to do was stop right next to where you saw them last. I would then turn off the motor, poke the camera out the window and wait without moving. Usually I wouldn't have to wait very long before they would slowly work their way slowly upwards onto a nearby high spot. I had a great time photographing them. Gods love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a handheld Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens. AV mode, ISO 400, Exposures varied. #Team Canon, #Bringit

Rascally Rabbit

This morning I was out the door before five a.m. I made a quick trip to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Those of you that know me or have followed my photoblog for a long time know that I have a soft spot for small mammals. This morning was no exception as I really got into photographing the Blacktailed Jackrabbits. Here is my favorite image of one them. This image was created with a handheld Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 lens at 552 mm. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 400, F 6.3 at 1/1,600th of a sec. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon, #Bringit

Slightly Different Point of View

I'm so glad that Lenore's car has a sunroof. Last weekend we drove through Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in Northern California. We were photographing a Redtail Hawk from a little ways back when it hit me. Let's drive under it. We slowly crept forward and surprisingly the hawk stayed put. I whistled softly and no reaction from the hawk. Lenore started talking to it and got an immediate response as it lowered its head and looked straight down on us. I took a series of images but this one was one of my favorites. My only worry was that it would take off and poop all over us. Luckily that didn't happen. Image created with a handheld Canon 7D, Tamron 150-600 at 375mm. AV mode, spot metered, ISO 800, F 5.6 at 1/1,000th of a sec.God's love and blessings to all, chris

Birding

On Monday I went birding with Lenore. I have always been a casual birder. I would bird only to ID what it was that I was photographing. Mondays expedition to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge was one of the few times that I was birding with photography thrown in and not the other way around. We had our field guides and we pretty much stuck to ID ing the waterfowl and a few smaller birds such as a Black Phoebe and one LBJ (Little Brown Job an unknown sparrow). One of the highlights of the day was spotting a Bald Eagle way off in the distance near the viewing platform and seeing some Blacktail Deer out in the open. It's always such a wonderful feeling to be out on the refuge with all of the sights and sounds around you. The weather was simply beautiful and we had a marvelous time.God's blessings upon your day, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens.