Central Valley Flyway - near Merced (2007.01.28)

Thacher got me out of Oakland this weekend and we went down to the Merced National Bird Refuge in the Central Valley. Birds, Birds, and moe Birds. I think we saw over 20 species including SandHill Cranes...doing their crazy little dance. The SandHill Cranes were about 5 feet tall. The highlight of the trip though was seeing a great blue heron take on a gopher. It took the bird about twenty minutes to figure out how to orientate the rodent in a way conducive to swallowing it and it kept going down to the river to dunk the fur ball to make it easier to slide down the hatch.

Below are some images of the trip:

Great Blue Heron eating a gopher after dipping it in the water

oh...Tule Elk down there too.