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San Luis National Wildlife Reserve at golden hour. Unusual to see a Great Blue Heron perched in a tree that is not over water. Maybe this was the roosting spot.
I had really nice conditions when I went to the wildlife refuge on this night. The wind wasn't blowing too hard and it made for pretty reflections off of the water. There was just enough clouds in the sky to make the picture look really nice and the silhouettes were pretty amazing. My dog and I stayed until after sunset to watch the sandhill cranes come in to roost for the night. It was a really great night of shooting.
After Ioh Collected the ores, he then worked on tapering cedar shafts for arrows. He has to admit that his curiousity is perked between Oro and the various writings, diagrams, and contraptions on her desk.
Visit this location at Chronicles of Lynnea : Medieval Fantasy Roleplay in Second Life
I shot this while driving around the refuge in the bird area. It is a very scenic drive with thousands of birds to keep you company.
From Oronia, or Oro for short (played by Catbird (tugendhafte)). In this story, Iohannes is a young Irazi who has left his sheltered life in kingdom of Jomor'kri, looking for his estranged Bastet sister. Oro just happens to find him one day as he comes into the village, wandering about in the cold next to the The Smoking Hammer.
Visit this location at Chronicles of Lynnea : Medieval Fantasy Roleplay in Second Life
This was taken from an observation platform at Sousa Marsh in the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. If you look closely at the water, you can get an idea of the hundreds of birds that winter here. As you can imagine, it is really noisy here.
This was taken a few years ago and was one of the most amazing displays of color during a sunset that I've ever seen. With the newer software advances, I thought I would rework this scene. I like the way it turned out. The denoise and editing tools seem to have done their job. I hope you all enjoy it too.
11x14 in. Kodak Polyprint RC paper painted by the sun in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines on April 12, 2016. Yes, they really look like lobster claws! :D
So many Heliconia species to choose from. I hope I selected the right one. :D members.iinet.net.au/~meckms/Heliconia%20Information%20Pa...
Check this out too! www.bambooland.com.au/plants/heliconias/
While I was driving on the auto tour road in Merced National Wildlife Refuge, I took a side trip to the fishing area. In most of the refuge, you are to remain in your car unless you are in a designated parking area. The fishing road has a lot of areas to park and then you can get to the stream and fish. This was taken at the end of the road where they have a lock and water pump set up to divert water.
I didn't ask at the visitor center what they were fishing for, but this looks like a great location for fishing. I would guess that they would be fishing for bass here because of the heat in the summer time. I did see a lot of scales on the ground and it could be a carp that was caught. This would be a nice location to explore the different parking areas and see how the fish are biting.
This was taken off of the water fowl tour road in a parking area near the end of the refuge. There is a short hike you can take from here to a viewing platform. One year a came here and there were thousands of birds feeding in the area. This year there were a few hundred, but none in this area. I did get a few bird pics along the way, but nothing fantastic here.
Iād like to think I caught the wonderful moment a Loggerhead Shrike was calling and singing out its song, but this is truthfully just moments before it herked up a small pellet of indigestible food bits. Still, I believe itās an interesting behavioral moment without all the unnecessary viewable unpleasantness that there could be. Majestic bird, moments before not being so regal.
Even without the migratory birds in view, the simple beauty of Merced NWR comes through in the morning light, looking across the water.
EXPLORE # 36
A two color dragonfly. Photographed at the UPLB, Mt. Makiling, Laguna.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly
HBW everyone!
So many Heliconia species to choose from. I hope this is the one. members.iinet.net.au/~meckms/Heliconia%20Information%20Pa...
A flock of Black Birds watch from their perches as the sun rises through the Tule Fog on the Merced NWR.
My second tour out to Merced NWR had a good number of Egrets and Herons capturing rodents and chowing them down. Considering how much water was about, I think the rodents were easy pickings due to the flooding of many of their dens. Also being that the flora was sprouting everywhere their food sources were numerous and their prescence easily seen. The behavior that we noted most was that the herons would drown the rodents in the water removing the will to fight back making them go down a bit easier. Nature isnāt always pretty and its literally a heron eat gopher world out there.
Flower gathered from the foothills of the mystic and dormant volcano Mount Makiling in Los Banos, Laguna. Painted under the "Philippine" sun on June 4, 2013.
top: Ilford MGFB warmtone paper
bottom: Adorama VGFB paper
The rain didn't deter this Red-Winged Blackbird one bit! Merced National Wildlife Refuge. Photo trip with Donald Quintana last week.
While driving on the Water Fowl Drive, I loved how all these birds were trying to get their space in this shallow section of the marsh. There were only these smaller birds in the wildlife refuges while I was exploring the area. Everything was really green on this trip with the recent rains and a lot of the ponding areas had water in them. I was hoping to get some pictures of the tule elk on this trip, but I only saw one too far away to capture. Maybe next time.
Storm clouds made for some dramatic scenes as we traveled through San Luis National Wildlife Refuge last month.
iPhone pano.
Flickr EXPLORE 4/3/2019 - Thank You!
Next to living by the beach,
I'd settle to staying in a farm,
where you have fresh food, clean air,
and a beautiful sunrise and sunset,
to greet or end your day.
This elusive Ring-necked Pheasant came out of the brush long enough for me to capture him - what a beauty! Merced NWR near Los Banos, CA.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
-Oscar Wilde
Most of the birds, when my truck approached where they were feeding, would swim or fly away. This killdeer stayed where it was and watched me carefully. I didn't know anything about these birds until last year. A couple of killdeer laid their eggs in the garden we have at school on the ground. After laying their eggs, they will protect the eggs until the little ones hatch. If they think your are a danger to their eggs, the birds will make a distressed call and pretend that they had a broken wing and can't move well. The idea is that you will follow the bird and get away from the nest.
I showed my students some youtube videos of them doing this crazy dance last year to show them why they were doing it at school. It gave my kids more buy in to protect them. At recess time, there were always kids out there to protect them after that. One day we came out and they were gone. One egg didn't make it and I showed it to the kids. It was a great learning experience and connection to nature for the kids.
There are three really nice wildlife refuges near Los Banos in Central California. I took this picture at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. There is a viewing drive that goes around the refuge. You are not supposed to get out of your car when driving, but you can in the parking areas. The birds will scatter even when you drive by slowly. This white faced ibis was kind enough to pose for me for a few pictures. This was the best of the bunch.
I had fun using two cameras today. I was using the d500 with my 600mm lens all day and didn't have much luck until I got to this wildlife refuge. There weren't many cranes or herons on this trip. So I was pretty glad to see a few of these birds hanging around. I stopped my truck and shot out of the window to get this picture. Even though I was the only one in the refuge, it would be my luck to get my hand slapped for getting out of my truck. Turned out pretty good for a window shot.
A Northern Mockingbird perches on a branch in the Merced NWR last week.
Merced Photography Safari led by Donald Quintana Photography.
On my way back home today, I stopped off at the Gadwall Wildlife Refuge East of Los Banos. The refuge has several ponds where you can observe waterfowl. I wondered around a mile into the refuge before heading back. The sky was very overcast, and it was hard to get nice images. This was the best out of a lot of shooting out of my truck window.
On my way back, I found out that I goofed. I thought that hunting season was over, but I was wrong. Today was the last day for youth duck hunting and I wasn't supposed to be driving out into the refuge. Oops! A game warden stopped me on my way out and nicely told me of my mistake. She said that someone called to complain about a person driving around the refuge, me. I showed her my camera and told her that was what I was hunting with. Luckily, she laughed at me and let leave with just being embarassed.