April 24, 2017 Malhuer NWR, Oregon

More From Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge

Always get a kick out of the male Ruddy Duck and his sky blue bill during breeding season.

Plenty of ducks encountered this week while driving through the refuge and was able to get a few decent flight shots when there was enough light, lots of overcast mornings.

This pair of Cinnamon Teal have been found on this spot every day this week, so I assume she is sitting on some eggs.

American Avocets hunting along the flooded fields.

This Sandhill was one of several pairs out hunting the flooded cow pastures along the highway.

A completely drenched Ferruginous hawk manning his roadside hunting perch during one of this week’s showers.

The look says it all, he doesn’t care for this weather any more than I do.

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April 18, 2015 Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon

Exploring the Refuge and My ” Guide ” Arrives

As always, click on any image for a larger, sharper version.

I drove the refuge main road again this morning and once again found the pair of Short-eared Owls, though they remained just out of range,

once again found several Northern Harriers, including the elusive Gray Ghost,

plus a Canada goose family with five goslings, along Buena Vista Pond.

Probably one of the reasons these guys have become so numerous, and become such a pest, is because they are such good, protective parents.

There are all kinds of small birds along the road, such as Magpies, Meadowlarks, and many, many Red-headed Blackbirds, singing up a storm.

I made a quick run up to Burns to fill up the Prius and grab some groceries, and on my return south on Route 205, I saw this Ferruginous Hawk taking off just off the side of the road, another first time bird for me.

Jim Palmer arrived around 3 PM and we talked for a couple of hours and then decided to go out to check on the Sage Grouse lek off Foster Flat Road around 6 PM. We saw a few at twilight but they were too far off, and there just wasn’t enough light to shoot. I definitely will return to this location for what is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Jim is a long time gifted wildlife photographer I met in Yellowstone National park a couple years back and he had graciously agreed to meet me here and show me the ropes, as he has been photographing here at Malhuer for many years. There is a lot of ground to cover here at Malhuer and it will be nice to have someone to show me where everything is ( or might be, I should say ).

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April 22, 2014 Bridgeport Reservoir, California

Snow Squalls and a Wasted Chance at Some Bald Eagles

I awoke this morning to some pretty chilly weather and a little bit of snow. Wind was fierce last night, blowing in Spring snow squalls.

I drove down to the river below the dam once it stopped snowing, and got some shots of the common mergansers, cinnamon teal, and the mallard pair.

As always, just click on any image for a larger, sharper version.

On the way back to the dam, I spotted 2 bald eagles harassing what I figured was a vulture in the top of a dead tree next to the road at eye level with the road.

Unfortunately I still had my 1.4 TC on and had too much lens, so I lost time getting that off, then the camera had trouble focusing on the eagle in flight with a solid background of trees on the far slope of the river below, plus it had begun snowing again. The pair of eagles swooped in a circle around the tree twice while I tried to get a decent shot, but then a truck pulled off the road and headed down the dirt road directly under the tree the eagles were circling and drove them off. I never did get a shot in focus. What a great opportunity wasted!

The truck quickly turned around and came back on the highway and went on his way. I then noticed that what I assumed was a vulture in the treetop was actually a subadult bald eagle, so I made my way down the dirt road to try and get a shot before it took off. Alas, the only clear shot angle was directly into the glare of the sun behind the snow squall blowing through, so, once again, no decent photo.

Yellow headed blackbird eating midges — Yellow headed blackbird

Back at the campsite, my feeder that was full of jays yesterday now was full of yellow headed blackbirds.

As the sun popped in and out of the swift moving clouds, I couldn’t resist adding just a few more shots of the blackbirds grabbing midges, if you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed catching this action.

January 30, 2014 Moving Day

Roseate spoonbills feeding — Roseate spoonbills

Moving day Bolivar Peninsula, Texas to Iowa, Louisiana

Headed up Route 87 to High Island then inland on Route 124 to Winnie where I joined up with I-10 East. Got off I-10 east at Orange, Texas exit and filled up at the Pilot truck stop right on the exit. Plenty of room on an actual RV gas island!

Called the Wingard shop down the road to see if they could help me with my satellite dish problem and turns out they can’t because their tech’s car won’t start so he won’t be in today. The owner said he thought it probably was a problem with the DirecTv box, of course, shift the blame.

Stopping and letting the dogs out at the truck stop proved to be a wise move because when I checked the tires while out with the dogs, I noticed the curbside tire on the tow dolly was completely flat. 5 minutes before, while I was filling up, it appeared fine. So, I unloaded the Toyota scissor jack and found that it wouldn’t even begin lifting the car, absolutely useless. Fortunately, I had my old small hydraulic jack in the RV and, even though it had once again leaked fluid all over the storage box, it did lift the dolly up enough so I could work it with the scissor jack to finish the change

… with the help of a young Spanish speaking trucker who was parked nearby and insisted on helping, though he spoke no English. He dove right in, so accepted the help, it was appreciated, and I figured I would give him a twenty for the 10 minutes help, so no big deal, even though I could have finished up by myself. With the job completed, I took my wallet out and grabbed a bill, but he absolutely refused to take anything, simply shook my hand, smiled, and walked away.Once in a while, my tenuous faith in humanity gets shored up a bit by the kindness of strangers.

I arrived at Cypress Bend RV Park in Iowa, LA right at noon, and when I went to check in and they had 2 packages waiting for me, my replacement lens foot from Really Right Stuff for my new camera lens ( that is on backorder from Adorama ) and a replacement LNB unit from the Winegard Satellite people. They said they were shipping out a coax cable that goes from the dish base to the LNB unit, but must have changed their diagnosis of my problem. Hope this is the problem, have to give Winegard some credit though, they responded quickly.

With a little sun popping through around 1 PM, I decided to forego the satellite dish repair and head down to Cameron NWR to take advantage of a day with sunlight. On the way, I stopped at the Lake Charles Toyota dealership to see if they can get my speed sensor ordered and installed while I am in the area. I showed their service people the documentation from Galveston Toyota showing the need for a new speed sensor to resolve my cruise control and warning lights situation. The Galveston dealer had told me it would take at least a week to get the part in ( from California he said ) and so I had to forego getting it fixed in Galveston a couple of weeks ago. Turns out there are four different speed sensors and the documentation from Galveston did not specify which one needed replacement so I had to hang around while the two dealerships got that straightened out. Here’s where I again start to lose faith… the Lake Charles dealership made me an appointment for first thing Monday morning to do the work and said that the part would be in overnight and it would come from Houston, so obviously I was getting a song and dance number in Galveston, don’t know why, unless they have an aversion to doing warranty work for people they haven’t sold to.

Cameron NWR

As always, click on any image for a larger, sharper version.

I have visited this wildlife refuge twice in the past and have had mixed results, but it always is worth a look see.

One of my favorite challenges is capturing the iridescent feathers of the Glossy ( or it could be a White-faced ) Ibis, most often appearing as a drab bronze-brown feathered bird. But if you capture the sunlight at just the right angle you have a good chance of some seeing some amazing colors on that drab brown body.

I managed to add a new duck species to my photo catalog! The Gadwall is a not quite so common, nor colorful, duck that can be found here at the refuge most times.

I could hear shotgun blasts in the distance so I assume that might be why these pintails and most of the other birds were very skittish about my approach.