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Sacramento NWR Nov. 2013

On November 10, 2012 we visited the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. This consists mainly of a driving loop where you stay in your car and use it as your "blind", as the birds let cars much closer than people on foot. This place is dominated by water fowl (mostly geese and ducks), but there are plenty of smaller birds on land as well.

Probably the stand-out photographic feature of this day for me was coming across a flock of Cattle Egrets feeding near the road, who kept flying from place to place, giving me lots of practice photographing them in flight. This allowed me to get may different angles of them, and while many of those angles probably won't be framed and hung on a wall, they are a big help if you are trying to identify the bird from a pose that isn't in your typical bird book.
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A flock of Cattle Egret take off, with a huge quantity of geese (mostly white Snow Geese) in the background. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
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A flock of Cattle Egret take off, with a huge quantity of geese (mostly white Snow Geese) in the background. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)

A flock of Cattle Egret take offwith a huge quantity of geese mostly white Snow Geese in the background. 11102012Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeSacramento National Wildlife RefugeWillowsCA20121110 November 102012

  • A Cattle Egret flying low over the grassland, with others feeding in the grass behind it. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Cattle Egret coming in for a landing. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Cattle Egret coming in for a landing. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Cattle Egret flying away. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Cattle Egret flying away. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Cattle Egret coming in for a landing, with two others already in the grass. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A pair of Cattle Egret in the grass and weeds. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • Cattle Egret in the grass and weeds. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Snow Goose flying against the deep blue sky. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Snow Goose flying against the deep blue sky. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A Cattle Egret flying low over the water. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A flock of Cattle Egret feed in the grass in the foreground, with a huge quantity of geese (mostly white Snow Geese) in the background. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A flock of Cattle Egret take off, with a huge quantity of geese (mostly white Snow Geese) in the background. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A flock of Cattle Egret flying over the marshland. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • A male Mallard Duck leaves a V-wake in the water as it swims. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • Ducks and geese sleeping at the edge of the shore. The reddish duck is likely a Cinnamon Teal. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • Many geese in the water. The white ones are Snow Geese. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • Ducks (mostly sleeping) on the edge of the shore. The reddish duck is likely a Cinnamon Teal, the one flashing the green on the wing is likely a male Mallard, and the one swimming in front with the wide bill is a female Northern Shoveler. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • Three white Snow Geese flying against a deep blue sky. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
  • Three white Snow Geese flying against a deep blue sky. (11/10/2012, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge)
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