Merced National Wildlife Refuge

“We should go to Merced. To the Wildlife Refuge,” said Robin.

I looked it up online and wasn’t entirely convinced. The walking trails were very short. The largest “trail” was a five-mile auto tour. That didn’t sound like much fun.

Just a few days later, however, Katherine came home from her volunteer work brimming with excitement about…Merced National Wildlife Refuge. One of Katherine’s co-workers had recently been to the Merced Refuge and loved it–especially the auto tour.

“You need to bring snacks because you will want to spend a lot of time,” her co-worker said. Wow! This was the universe talking to us, since the co-worker didn’t even know that we were (not!) considering going to Merced.

We quickly told Robin we were all in on a trip to Merced. Her husband, Mark, generously agreed to drive. So, at 5am one recent morning, we all piled into their car and headed to the central valley.

As soon as we arrived, we were awestruck by the sight and sound of thousands of birds flying and taking off and landing in the water before us. Katherine took videos (turn the sound up to hear the birds!).

We arrived just as the sun was rising and it colored the fog a beautiful yellowy-orange.

The auto tour turned out to be very cool. We had great views from the car (though next time we would bring a larger car with larger windows). I stepped out frequently to take photos. You aren’t allowed to “walk” on the auto tour but I wasn’t walking; I was standing.

We drove through wetlands (okay, not through wetlands, we drove alongside them), riparian woodlands, grasslands, vernal ponds and croplands. The crops are planted specifically for the birds. The Sandhill cranes and arctic-nesting geese will need to gain weight before beginning their migration north.

Below are just a few of the many birds we saw in the five hours we spent at the Merced Refuge.

Northern Pintail. A new bird ID for us.

Bald Eagle. An unexpected surprise when it flew over.

At this reedy marsh, we saw ten or twelve Black-crowned Night Herons.

White-faced Ibis. These beautiful birds shimmer in the light.

It was hard to get a picture of this Cinnamon Teal; it was busy foraging.

Green-winged Teal: misidentified by me to Robin and Mark as a wigeon. My bad.

During the breeding season, the female Killdeer shows additional brown coloring on her face.

Spotted by Robin. "Back up! Back up! I saw a Great Horned Owl in a nest!"

Greater White-fronted Goose: one of at least three types of geese seen that day. Snow Geese and Ross's Geese were also present.

We had an amazing time at an amazing place. We are looking forward to going back and bringing more snacks for a longer visit!