It’s fall. The Cranes are back….

It’s fall, and the Cranes and Geese are returning to California for the winter. This weekend is the Lodi Crane Festival, which if you’re at all curious about this birdwatching stuff would be a great way to get introduced to birding and these gorgeous birds. There seems to be a lot of activity already at Isenberg Crane Refuge, but my favorites are Merced National Wildlife Refuge and Los Consumnes (near Galt). Sunset (above) is a great time because some of  the birds will scatter into the area agricultural lands to forage for the day, and then all fly back into the refuge as the light wanes and watching flock after flock come in can be magical.

Dawn, however, can be even more magical (just not as convenient) — as the birds wake up the noise is indescribable, and then these huge waves take up and circle the area and head off for the day.

And sometimes you see things you never forget, such as when tens of thousands of birds all suddenly take to the air:

That’s one of my favorite birding moments so far — a peregrine flushed a flock of shorebirds, which panicked (that’s the darkish streak middle left), and they panicked flocks of sandhill cranes and snow geese. That photo contains literally tens of thousands of birds (and one predator), and flocks like that can darken the sky as they fly over you.

Laurie and I usually like to hit Merced NWR thanksgiving weekend. I won’t be at Lodi this year (I’m hoping to get to the Morro birding festival in january, though) but I’m trying to decide when a good weekend to go up and do a sunrise/sunset “really long but fun” day up in the Sacramento area around Isenberg, Consumnes and some of the agricultural areas where the birds hang out. We’ll normally try to hit up Merced 3-4 times between now and February when the action fades….

(and that’s why I wear a hat while birding…. )

(hat tip: Audublog)

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