Sometimes a road trip is in order. This weekend it was needed in a way that I cannot express in words. I had heard stories about the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex recently, heck I even sold an image to the company building the new headquarters and visitors center for a display. But, I had never been there before. I had heard tales of Ross’s Geese (Chen rossii) as far as the eye could see, Lesser Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) wintering here in the tens of thousands, mass fly-outs and fly-ins with the sound of the wing beats deafening and drumming as loud as a freight train. These, I thought, were tall tales spun by men drunken with the adventure only nature could create. I myself would have to experience this and dispel these myths.
Not interested in going it alone, I chose my traveling companions with care. My 11-year-old son Daniel, a budding nature photographer in his own right, and my good friend Marlin, who had been to the Promised Land only the week before. Marlin would give us great insight into where and when we should be going to certain locations, and Daniel, my son would provide familial support of our claims of grandeur should we experience those breathtaking, awe inspiring displays of the natural world we had heard of.
Our adventure began late in the afternoon on Friday. Our Mini-van loaded to the gills with all sorts of necessary as well as unnecessary equipment for the 4-hour trek to the refuge. With good conversation and high spirits, the trip to Los Banos, the gateway to the San Luis National Wildlife Complex passed quickly. Our only stop was in the bustling metropolis of Kettleman City to feed on "In and Out" Burgers. Our accommodations at the Best western Executive Inn in Los Banos were acceptable. They offered a free continental breakfast for which we planned to attend in the early hours of the next morning. Weary from our drive, we all crashed into our beds with peaceful thoughts of tomorrows adventure.
My head exploded with the sounds of classic rock blaring from the alarm clock at 5:10 A.M. someone should have checked that the night before, since I set the alarm, that someone should have been me. I paid the price and luckily my traveling companions didn’t hold it against me. We dressed quickly and headed downstairs for a feast of self made waffles, coffee and Danishes. With the urgency of a couple of vampires, we needed to be at our destination, the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, before the sun rose. We packed our equipment and headed off into the sunrise.
The Sun planned its journey across the morning sky as we arrived on location. We would be driving on a gravel road known as the Auto Tour Route a narrow one-way gravel road that allows wildlife viewing on either side of a vehicle. After stopping off at the boardwalk and kiosk area to get a view of the area, collect some informative pamphlets and make a run to the restrooms, we began our journey around the refuge.
How could we go wrong when the first photo opportunity would be a White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) in silhouette with the reflection of the rising sun behind it? We stopped the van. Too close for the massive 500mm lens, I reached for the Canon 10D with the 100-400mm lens mounted. Some would say this is old technology but I still feel the 10D is a great camera. Using a Molar bag on my windowsill for added support, I aimed my camera. I couldn’t believe our luck; this Ibis wasn’t going to flee. I snapped off about 10 images at varying focal lengths as well as verticals and horizontals. You never know which composition might be the more pleasant. Marlin, who was on the passenger side of the van, captured images from over my shoulder. I can only presume that he was able to capture superb images as well. My son Daniel shot from inside the van and had some impressive images of his own.
Finding it difficult to break from the backlit Ibis, it made the decision easier by eventually flying off to better rooting grounds. We continued our journey around the wetlands. Our next stop was at a sign that mentioned photography blind parking, one car only. Since we were the only cars we could see on the road that morning, we took advantage of the parking space. As we walked out to the Blind sight, we couldn’t help but notice the massive number of Ross’s Geese nestling down in the shallow waters. There were hundreds of them in this location. Occasionally darting about the edge of the ponds were Black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) and an occasional American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana).
When we arrived at the location to the photography blind we were a little disappointed. Expecting to find some sort of structure to sit in and photograph, all we could see were two manholes covered with metal lids. Daniel began to explore them and I asked him not to lift the manhole covers as they probably led to some type of sewer enclosure. But, lo and behold, these were the blinds. We were pleasantly surprised by the fact that they were cement capsules that had a stool in them at just the right height for a person to sit and have their head and camera out at ground level. These were well thought out! For the best images are captured at the same eye level of the subject so that you can relate to the animal.
After exploring the Blind we headed back to the van. Now, with the thousands of geese in the area, it must be expected that there will be great deals of goose poop about as well. Lo and behold our shoes had collected a fair amount and needed some scraping and cleaning before entering the car. After much scrubbing and scraping, we took off. We hurried around on the gravel road in fear that if we waited too long, we would miss the grand spectacle called the early morning fly-out.
The top of the ponds were covered with more Ross’s Geese than I had ever seen in my life. Spotted here and there, the occasional American Avocet and Black-necked stilt wove in and out of the crowd. Then as if by some inner, telepathic means of communication, one, then another then two began to rise from the crowd. Then as if by some strange command, they all began to lift of in mass. The sound of wing beats at first a low grumble, the honking began to become loader. Then as though a freight train were passing by, the noise became almost deafening. My jaw dropped and I almost forgot to raise my camera and shoot. There is nothing that I can compare to date the awe inspiring feeling of seeing a thousand Ross’s Geese lift off in mass fly out. It was a fact, the stories, and the myths, there was nothing here to dispel. I was anticipating that the day would only become more spectacular.
As we photographed the fly out, the geese intermixed with the Sandhill Cranes. Thousands upon thousands of migration geese and cranes circled in mass above our heads. As far as the eye could see above us a swirling, undulating cloud of birds gave me one thought, “I should be wearing a hat”! Though I was lucky not to be hit with any falling not all in our party would fair so well. I shall leave the victim nameless but suffice it to say, they were smart enough to be wearing a hat!
During the constant action, we met a fellow NANPA (North American Nature Photography Association) member by the name of Rita. Rita was a graduate of the Rocky Mountain School of Photography and a Nikon Shooter. Rita is a very nice British lady with a passion for Nature photography. Marlin, myself and Daniel hung out with her for a little while until we decided to move on down the road to see if we could capture a couple of the Sandhill Cranes that had stopped close to the road.
After Photographing the Cranes, we decided to head off and check out the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. Construction on a new Visitors center as well as the refuge complex headquarters was under way. This is the location where one of my images is going to be used. The highlight of this refuge is the location of a herd of Tule Elk (Cervus canadensis nanodes). I think due to the construction, there was a lot left to be desired on the day that we attended. The highlight of the visit was a group of coots that made a mad dash across a small canal. I look forward to visiting the San Luis Refuge after construction is finished.
After our brief time at the San Luis National Refuge, we headed off to a remote road call the Santa Fe Grade. This is a very rough dirt road that is home to many Duck clubs as well as vast wetlands. Driving on this road one could see an abundance of White-faced Ibis’s, Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps), American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) and numerous types of ducks for which is the reason for all of the hunting clubs. As an added bonus, there were many sightings of both male and female Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus) We spent a great deal of time on this road photographing all that would present its self.
As we only had a couple of hours before sunset, we decided it would be best if we headed back to the Merced Wildlife refuge, It would be getting close to time for the mass fly-in for the night and we didn’t want to miss this spectacular highlight and finale to our trip. We had hoped for a spectacular sunset but instead the clouds were building for the coming storm that would hit the next day. As we looked to the north, we could see black clouds of white geese and Sandhill Cranes heading towards the refuge. Our fly-in was beginning to start. We waited by the ponds for the geese to land but they had other ideas. They choose to land together in a field nearby. We waited and waited, but they just kept landing at the collection point a few hundred yards away. We noticed out British friend Rita parked a little bit farther down the road.
Rita was waiting for the fly-in as well and so what better than to wait with a newfound friend. We waited, and as the light faded we experimented with low-light photography, flash photography and motion blurs with the masses as they flew in and out. It didn’t appears as though we were going to get the mass fly-in that we had hoped for and the sunset was leaving a lot to be desired. Still, despite the anti climactic end to the day, we had experienced so many amazing sights. With a three-hour drive a head of us, we bid Farwell to Rita, The Refuge and all the spectacular waterfowl. Did the trip live up to all of the hype and tall tales of nature’s grandeur? You bet it did!
