Blue Goose ~ Day 180

November 23, 2014 ~ Los Banos, CA

Done with working and catch-up stuff, I headed to a couple of refuges northeast of Los Banos. The first was San Luis which has the refuge complex VC (open on Sunday) and where I was greeted by a beautiful large calm dog, its leash dragging on the floor. Her name was Isis; she had pale blue eyes like our dog SandyLily and had shepherd genes. A black and white cat was perched on a high display case. There were full feeders outside. I give points to refuges when I see this, instead of empty feeders (or none at all).

One of the reasons for San Luis is participation in the Tule elk program. These are small elk, found only in California, which were close to extinction in 1895 with only 28 left. But after missteps, mistakes and misfortunes, and with the help of California Fish and Game and a few private citizens, a Tule elk program was successful. Today, there are 4000. They are being re-introduced to various areas in California with the appropriate habitat. Congress decided that once the numbers exceeded 2000, they could be hunted (Wikipedia).

Three other cool sightings:
1. A smallish hovering bird that was not a kestrel. It had a black tail, was rusty underneath and I  realized it was a Say's Phoebe, which bird I've only seen once before and had no idea it hovered.
2. On the auto route, I saw a small flock of beautiful Lark Sparrows with their striking bright head pattern, not uncommon, but a bird I associated with summer grasslands.
3. A White-tailed Kite perched in the top of a tree on the road into San Luis and still there on the way out, two hours later.

White-tailed Kite at San Luis NWR - CA

There were busy Yellow-rumps and California Towhees at the VC; waterfowl and hawks, flickers and Western Scrub Jays in the fields and wetlands.

I then drove 20 miles to Merced NWR, through totally flat fields and over aqueducts and dried natural waterways. Yards and road shoulders are often just plain pale dirt. Weeds need water too, I guess. San Luis was more dry than wetland, so I wondered about Merced, but it was incredible! with an abundance of birds, including thousands of Snow Geese. (I was too lazy to get out my scope and search for Ross's but I'm certain they were also numerous.) The sun was low in the sky, highlighting the marshes to east and silhouetting the Black-necked stilts probing for food in silvered water on the west side of the road. In this land of severe drought, the water was an anomaly. I can only imagine the controversies and discussions and rulings on who gets it, and the aridity got much much worse the as I drove south the next day.

Near Los Banos, CA

I thought a Denny's might work for me. Only $10 for a chicken dinner with roasted potatoes and broccoli with Denny's idea of a "bourbon sauce with veggies" on the chicken. Every booth has a nutritional chart with information on all the foods they offer. My chicken entree had over 3000 mg of sodium. Jeez louise! An ENT physician once told me, "You can't eat out if you're watching your salt intake."

The good weather continued, although the temperature in the early morning is low 40s. After two motel nights, I was ready again for a parking lot. Sometimes, like tonight, I car-fidget, moving several times to find just the right spot. I like the 24 hour Walmarts better as there is always a "presence" so to speak. This wasn't  one of those, so I finally settled on a spot not so tucked away.

Snow / Ross's Geese - Merced NWR - CA