A simple photo of a pair of Mallards (Anas platyrhynochos) taken near dusk at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. I wanted to see how my recently purchased Nikkor 200 – 400mm f/4G ED VR lens would handle the low light shots. This image was taken at f4, 1/50 and ISO 320 while mounted on my Groofwin […]
Author: Larry Jordan
Larry Jordan is an avid birder and amateur photographer living on the Pacific Flyway near the Central Valley of Northern California. He is a board member of his local Audubon Society and is a bird and wildlife conservationist. Larry contributes to several wildlife conservation organizations and is a BirdLife International "Species Champion." He is also Habitat Manager for the Burrowing Owl Conservation Network, an organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the Western Burrowing Owl population in the United States. Larry has been blogging about birds since September of 2007 at TheBirdersReport.com
CARE Calls Upon Congress to Abandon Sequestration and Fully Fund the National Wildlife Refuge System
The Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) urges Congress to ensure a future for America’s wildlife heritage and fully fund our National Wildlife Refuge System. Sequestration could cut the Refuge System’s budget by nearly 10%, but coupled with an additional annual appropriation cut, the overall impact could be as much as 20%. The U.S. Fish […]
Cinnamon Teal at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
Check out my latest West Coast Beat Writer post of Cinnamon Teals at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge over at 10000 Birds! Learn about what we can do to help our National Wildlife Refuges survive and sign the Wildlife Conservation Stamp petition!
Lewis’s Woodpeckers Put On A Show
Lewis’s Woodpeckers (Melanerpes lewis) usually begin their molt in autumn and it can last through the winter.The bird above appears to be molting (click on photos for full sized images). I noticed that they had returned from their breeding grounds a few weeks ago and were showing up in fairly large numbers among the large […]
Black-crowned Night-Heron Juvenile and Adult
I stopped at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge a few weeks ago on the way back home from a Northern California Audubon Council meeting in Clear Lake and spotted a few Black-crowned Night-Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) on the auto tour just before sunset. This juvenile was hunting from a irrigation outlet right next to the auto […]
Great Blue Heron Close-Up
A couple of weeks ago at Lema Ranch I came upon a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) fishing in Leah’s Pond. As is usual for this species, this heron was standing still and waiting for its prey most of the time and slowly walking through the shallow water otherwise, looking for anything that would fit […]
International Bird Rescue Needs Our Help
At International Bird Rescue, this has truly been the year of the Brown Pelican International Bird Rescue has received a record number of Brown Pelicans (Pelicanus magnificens) this year needing rehabilitation. Beginning in 2009, they began putting larger, blue plastic bands on their rescued pelican’s legs for easy identification. And soon, they will be banding […]
The Yellow-billed Magpie is a California Endemic
The Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli) is a true California endemic species. They are found primarily in the Central Valley, the southern Coast Ranges, and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where they prefer oak savannah habitat. A member of the Corvidae family, Yellow-billed Magpies eat mostly ground dwelling invertebrates but will partake of carrion, and […]