Wriggley's Corner

 

Hey everybuddy!

While our mom is back to work after her holiday break, I thought I'd reminisce about some of the adventures we had while she was home.

 

You know, we live smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Flyway.  There are a number of wildlife refuges in our area that offer habitat for the migrating birds.  Mom and I made a couple of trips to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.  We both really like this place!  There is a two mile walking trail (and pups on-leash are allowed :)) plus a six mile driving tour through the wetlands.

 

What's that?  My camera?  Yeah, I got that for Christmas last year.  I like to take pictures of our adventures too!  I have the timer set to take a picture every 30 seconds.  Mom appreciates seeing my perspective, bol!  Speaking of which, while she took that picture of me, I got these of her

 

 

 

BOL!

 

The duckies are usually scared off of the ponds that the walking trails go by.  There are usually lots of Coots about, though.  Also, there is a distant pond with some good action viewable from one of the trails.  While mom watches through her field glasses and takes pictures like this...

 

 

I take my pictures...

 

 

And...

 

A few more...

 

 

So even though we kept going back to this same place, every trip was different and memorable in it's own way.  On the trip before, as we were walking, we saw a river otter.  Twice!  The best thing, though, was seeing Bald Eagles for the first time.  They are rare to see here.

 

I must admit, I sort of nap through most of the driving tour.  It starts out in the grasslands and alkali meadows.  A lot of folks drive fast through this area, but then you miss things.  Like...

 

 

And these guys...

 

White tailed kites?

 

Once you get to the ponds, though, there are squillions of geese.  Wow, do they have a lot to say!  Even I woke up to check things out.

 

Mom had pulled over to watch the ducks and geese and take some pictures.  Plus there was a Great Egret on the road ahead of us, so mom was just creeping along.  For some reason, the squillions of geese on the water decided to clear the pond.  This was really incredible.  Mom took squillions of pictures and I put a small sequence into a slide show.  It was an amazing thing, seeing all of those birds taking off into the air.

 

 

Sorry about the no sound business...just imagine a whole lot of honking going on.  Oh, click here for a direct link if you want.

 

Gosh, I'm kind of getting long with this post and pictures.  Just a quick collage of some of the birds we saw...

 

Clock wise from top right Ring-necked Duck, Pintail, Cinnamon Teal,

???, Great Egret and Ring-necked pheasant

 

And besides being in the middle of all of those geese flying off, the highlight of this trip was seeing this guy...

 

 

A Peregrine Falcon!

They are also uncommon to see.

Ok, I'll stop with the pictures now.  Thanks for letting me share.

Have a great week, everybuddy!

 

 

Woofs.

~Wriggley