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Some people say that the advanced realm of photographers is to shoot birds, and photographers love to say that shooting birds is "playing birds".The next day in 2015, our two amateur photographers also spent a day in California's Central Valley "bird fighting" addiction, experiencing a wonderful "advanced realm".
On New Year's Day 2015, we went to Yosemite National Park to enjoy the winter scenery, drove out of the mountain along Route 140 before it was completely dark, and then found an inn in Merced, a small town in California's Central Valley. Next to the hotel is an American restaurant "Carrows", so a traditional American light meal becomes our New Year's dinner.
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I went back to the hotel for a good night's rest, had breakfast at the hotel the next morning, checked out and drove on the road. However, we did not rush home, but after a short drive on Route 140, we turned south on Route 165. When my wife checked the road to Yosemite National Park online before leaving, she found that there was a national wildlife sanctuary not too far from Route 140 on the halfway to Yosemite. This protected area is a habitat for migratory birds to migrate overwintering, and thousands of migratory birds stop there every winter to rest. Watching migratory birds migrate was a big wish of mine, so we decided to stop by the conservation sites when we returned from Yosemite National Park.
After driving on Route 165, I saw a small sign for a wildlife sanctuary on the side of the road. Then an open iron fence gate appeared on the left side of the road. This simple door has no signs up and down, left and right, and inside the door is a small flat piece of land, not even a building. Neither unattended nor charged. Could this be the entrance to the reserve? With doubts in my mind, I drove in to see what was going on. After parking, I came down and looked around and found a large wooden sign on each side of the small field. One of the wooden plaques reads: San Luis National Wildlife Refuge (St. Louis National Wildlife Refuge). Ha, we've found the right place, this is it! However, this place is so desolate, without any facilities and management, and completely different from the national park. Originally, the National Wildlife Refuges in the United States were under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while the National Parks in the United States were under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Both authorities are affiliated with the U.S. Department of the Interior and manage large swaths of land. The difference is that visitors to the national park buy tickets, while those who go to the wildlife sanctuary are free.
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What we drove in was the northern entrance to this reserve and the main entrance to its south. At this time it was empty, only our car. There are two roads in front of you, one is a ring road to the viewing area and the other to the bird hunting area. Don't look at it as a wildlife sanctuary, you can even hunt birds, of course, there are strict restrictions. But we have little interest in hunting birds, we have neither shotguns nor a bird hunting license. In this life, in addition to killing some flies and mosquitoes, I have not killed a living, and naturally I will not go to the bird hunting area. So we drove up the Bird Watching Ring Road, a gravel road that could only be driven in one direction.
On both sides of the road are large wetlands, and on the surface of the water there are dense patches of grass that are more than one person tall. By this time they had dried up, like walls of grass on the surface of the water. Soon, we found flocks of black American Coots foraging among the grass walls, a peaceful sight. We watched cautiously as we drove, afraid of breaking the silence in front of us. However, these water birds are too alert, as long as our car passes or stays a little, they will swarm behind the grass wall to avoid, and those who are too late to swim away will fly up sharply and fly behind the water grass not far away.
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This bird watching loop is not too long, and the main birds seen along the way are the American bone-top chicken and some wild ducks. These two kinds of waterfowl also have a lot of small cities in which we live, so we did not stay here for long, stop and go, and did not work hard to drive back to the iron fence gate.
Out of the gate of the sanctuary, we drove to the main entrance to the south of the St. Louis National Wildlife Refuge guided by Google Maps on our phones. This entrance is also an iron fence gate with a large parking lot after entering. At the moment there are only three or four cars parked in the parking lot, and it is estimated that this is all staff. After getting out of the car, I looked around and saw that there was a gate like an archway on the side of the parking lot, and a cement path underneath led to a beautiful building. The wall next to the building's gate reads: "San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex Headquarters and Visitor Center."
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We walked into the visitor center and there was no one else sitting behind the desk with a big mom-level staff member. Next to the central hall, there is a showroom with many picture models and physical specimens to introduce the natural environment and various wild animals here. We took a cursory glance and a picture of thousands of white water birds aroused our great interest, so we went to the desk and asked the big aunt in what season and where to see such a large group of water birds.
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My aunt was very patient and briefed us on the situation here. Originally, the building we are now in was the headquarters of the St. Louis National Wildlife Complex, which governs three wildlife sanctuaries and one management district in California's Central Valley. They are the "San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, the "Merced National Wildlife Refuge," the "San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge," and the "San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge, where the headquarters is located." Grasslands Wildlife Management Area.
Big Mama told us that in the St. Louis Conservation Area, there are mainly water birds such as American bone-top chickens and ducks. But not far from the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, where snow geese and Sandhill Cranes congregate in the winter, it's time to see. We were very excited to hear it and would like to drive over to see it right away. But Aunt kindly reminds us not to go too early, but to go in the evening before the sun is going down. Because the birds fly out to feed during the day, and in the evening, when a large number of birds that go out to forage will fly back to the reserve in droves to spend the night, the scene will be spectacular. We listened to the continuous thanks, and the introduction and guidance of the big mother made us increase a lot of knowledge.
Leaving the visitor center was near noon. We decided to take Big Mama's advice and take a turn here until the afternoon to go to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. One is dedicated to viewing the reserve's endemic "California Red Deer" (Tule Elk) and the other is the Bird Watching Loop. However, in this season the red deer are not very active, whether they can see them is difficult to say. So we decided to specialize in bird hunting today and drove straight to the bird watching loop.
The scenery of this bird watching ring road is not much different from the small ring road in the north, but the area is much larger, and there are more water birds than in the north. In addition to the American bone-top chicken, the most common are wild ducks. There was still only one car for us along the way. We didn't make much of a stop and soon drove to a fork in the road with a path that forked out from the left side of the loop. Just now, Aunt Big Ma introduced that this fork leads to another small wetland, which has more types of water birds. So we turned left and went up the fork in the road. On one side of the road is a large shallow beach with grass, and on the other side is a diversion canal full of grass on both sides, which is a good scenery.
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When we drove to a more open surface of the water, there were a lot of wild ducks in the water, and it wasn't just one. Although we can also see wild ducks near our home, it is far from being as much as in front of us. We parked on the side of the road and got out of the car and walked a few steps along the water's edge. At this time, I saw a dozen snow-white swans appearing between the grass walls in the distance. Wow, this swan has never been seen near our house! Although our lens is not long enough, we are happy to take quite a few photos. At that time, I didn't know what kind of swan it was, but when I came back and looked it up, they should be Tundra Swan, Chinese called little swans, also called tundra swans.
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After watching for a while we continued on our way and soon reached the end of the fork in the road. There is a large parking lot on the side of the road, at the moment there is still no car and no one, it seems that few people come to visit this big winter. Got out of the car and walked to the edge of the parking lot and saw a path next to it. A sign indicates that from here there is access to a bird watching platform, which is about 1 km away. Such a natural and quiet place can just walk, so we took the camera and ran to the platform. However, there is a small wooden sign at the trail crossing reminding us that mountain lions have been found here, which is a bit of a worry. We walked cautiously up the trail, and about halfway through, we overheard a stunned sound in the woods next to us. Oh my God, what's going on here? Turn your head to look at it, oh well it's not a cougar. I saw a large flock of wild ducks flying up from the forest and flying straight in the direction of the bird watching platform.
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Seeing such a large group of wild ducks flying by, we immediately gained momentum and took three steps and two steps to the bird watching platform. Looking up at the platform, wow, in front of you is a large wetland, and in the distance there are thousands of waterfowl inhabited by dense grass, most of them wild ducks. Waves of birdsong are heard one after another. At the moment, there were only two of us next to this large beautiful wetland. In addition to the chirping of birds in the water and grass, there are also the whirring of wild ducks flying in the sky. We stood on the bird watching platform and watched and listened, quietly enjoying this wonderful natural symphony.
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After admiring the watch for a while, it was already 1:30 and it was time to find a place to fill my stomach. We left the bird watching platform and drove back to the ring road to drive out the gates of the St. Louis National Wildlife Refuge. Not far from the reserve is the city of Los Banos in California's Central Valley, where we found a McDonald's for a quick snack and stopped by the mall next door to pass the time. Wait until it's almost 3 o'clock and we'll drive to the nearby "Prairie Wildlife Management Area" for a spin. However, the roads outside this management area have fallen into disrepair and are very potholed and difficult to walk. It didn't take long for us to turn back and head straight for the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, dozens of kilometres away.
By the time we arrived at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, it was 3:30 p.m., more than half an hour before the sun went down. Drive into the iron fence gate of the reserve and not far away there is a parking lot next to a bird watching platform. The sanctuary seems to be a bit more popular than the St. Louis National Wildlife Refuge, which you go to in the morning, with a few cars parked in the parking lot and a few tourists standing on the bird watching platform. We parked the car, got out of the car and walked up to the bird watching platform.
Standing on the platform and looking down, I saw a small group of "Lesser Sandhill Cranes" standing on the grass in the distance. Supposedly this reserve is one of the main wintering grounds for small sand dune cranes, and there should be a large number of birds here, but this is not the case. Maybe as My Aunt said, a large number of birds have gone out to forage for food and have not yet returned. It's still a while before dark, so we decided to drive around the reserve first.
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Get off the platform and drive up the bird watching ring here, in front of which there are already two cars walking slowly and stop-and-go. In a shallow pond we saw a small flock of large birds that looked like Canada geese, and if we looked closely, it was not the same. It turned out that this was another kind of goose called the Greater White-fronted Goose. But there are also diligent, and at this moment there is a small group of large white-fronted geese flying back in the sky.
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We got in the car and continued to walk slowly, stopping from time to time to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the wetlands." St. Louis National Wildlife Complex is on the Pacific Flyway for millions of migratory birds from Alaska and the Arctic. In order to provide a free and safe environment for migratory birds with abundant food, the management department strictly maintains and manages the grasslands and wetlands in each protected area according to the seasons. In early summer, drain the water from the wetlands to allow the weeds to grow, plant some corn and winter wheat, and prepare food for migratory birds that migrate over the winter. In late autumn, a certain amount of fresh water is poured into the wetland, forming a swamp mudflat, providing a safe habitat for migrating and wintering waterfowl waders. This ideal natural habitat not only protects a variety of migratory birds, but also protects many settled wild animals.
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On a shallow mudflat we found a small flock of small shorebirds, the size of a sparrow, with only a mouth and legs longer than a sparrow's. This little shorebird is called the "Least Sandpiper" and is the smallest coastal bird in the world. They feed on mudflats looking for small creatures in the water. Unexpectedly, these sparrow-sized shorebirds have to breed and overwinter between North and Central America every year.
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As we continued to drive slowly, a large flock of large white birds suddenly flew up from not too far ahead, and we were pleasantly surprised by this unexpected sight! I sped up in the direction where the birds flew.
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The car turned a corner and drove into a large parking lot, I parked the car and jumped out of the car. On one side of the parking lot is a wetland with an observation deck next to it. On the other side of the parking lot is a flat dryland. The wetlands are lined with thousands of snow-white geese. Wow, for the first time in my life, I saw so many birds gathered together, it was so shocking!
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Suddenly, a large field of snow geese on the dry land flew into the sky together, which can be said to be overwhelming. Oh my god! Such a scene has only been seen on TV in the past, but now it really appears in front of the eyes, and the excitement is indescribable.
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In addition to our car, there were a few cars parked in the parking lot, adding up to a dozen people watching birds here, including several photographers with long guns and short cannons and cannon barrels. People either shoot or watch, and even the sound of conversation is kept very low, so as not to frighten these cute creatures. As the sun sets in the west and the moon rises in the east, the snow geese in the sky are moving from south to north, shuttling between the sun and the moon in search of a place to spend the night. The two of us were also one in the parking lot and one at the observation deck to watch and shoot ah, and enjoyed it.
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The sunset reflects the wetlands, half the sky, and the birds returning home. With the sunset on one side and the moon on the other, this beautiful scenery is really intoxicating. The sun was gradually setting, the sky was getting darker, and our day's "bird fighting" had to end. We reluctantly bid farewell to this beautiful wetland and the lovely flock of birds, and rushed home in the twilight, but the spectacular scene of thousands of birds flying together just now made us unable to calm down for a long time. I didn't expect this casual stopover to bring us such a big surprise, and the second day of 2015 was really unforgettable.
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A few off-topic words:
A few months ago, I saw an elderly man from china visiting relatives in the apartment complex where we lived, with his little granddaughter feeding The Canadian geese, I couldn't help but come forward to discourage it. I told him these were wild animals and that feeding was not allowed in the small town. The old man told me he knew he wasn't allowed to feed, but he wanted to get his little granddaughter close to wildlife. Not to mention that he had seen other people feeding him, so why couldn't he? His answer really left me speechless. For many years, I have always had a question that I can't understand, do I wonder why many of our Chinese people always love to compare with others when they do things? It is better than food, clothing, shelter and transportation, but it is still better to do wrong things than why others can do wrong and I can't? What kind of psychology is this? Maybe some people think I'm nosy, and some people even think that feeding reflects the harmony between man and nature. But wild animals are wild animals, they are not zoo animals, they are not human pets, and we humans are not their owners. Modern developments have encroached upon large areas of wildlife habitat and many wildlife are endangered. As a member of the earth, we should do our best to leave enough natural living space for wild animals. Do not feed, do not interfere, do not destroy their innate habits of life. Whether it's "bird hunting" or photographing other wild animals, keep your distance and don't scare them for the sake of photography, because what you shoot doesn't reflect your level. And the natural landscape without human interference will bring people a stronger spiritual shock and make you reminisce endlessly.
Let's Keep Wildlife Wild.Thank you!