On The Fly

 I've been locked up too long.  The antsies get going and I either have to move furniture, or get outside.  If I don't keep going, I won't keep going.  Cooper and I hit the road for a nice long walk.  He absolutely LOVES it.  He goes so crazy, it's hard to get the harness on him.  

This kid ... he doesn't walk, he trots ... making me walk almost as fast as I can to keep up.  We might have stayed longer than the mile we went, but there were crazy loud barking dogs about half way that sounded like they were fighting through a fence.  Luckily, Cooper never barks back.  It's not his fight, he says.

I should have gone to Home Depot.  I also should have gone to Costco.  I just couldn't gather up any enthusiasm.  Instead I decided to head out to the Game Refuge and see all the geese and great blue herons that stop here for a month or so every year.  It's an amazing sight to see beaucoup thousands of them covering an entire 300 acre field.  The noise is deafening.

I live in the middle of farmland.  It used to be cattle country, but they all went broke and now try to farm it in order to make a living.  Remember me talking about all that rice stubble that we used to burn off?  Now it has to be baled.  Here's one of the many piles of rice straw leftover from harvest.  They actually used to burn the bales in a huge oven venture that not only got rid of this straw, but old wood besides, making electricity.  The know-it-alls shut it down.  

Their solution was to disc it back into the soil instead.  Farmers knew that wouldn't work because it takes several years for just a little bit of stubble to break down.  Just goes to show the know-it-alls didn't know it all after all.  Now some farmers make wattles.  You know those long snake-like things alongside road construction to keep water from flooding the area?  Those are rice wattles.  I actually had several of those above my Arizona house to divert water to a ditch.  It took six years for them to break down.  

I landed at the Refuge about 5:00 and rolled down the window.  That's how you tell if the herons have arrived, by the noise they make.  Sadly, it was pretty quiet.

You have to be AWARE out here.  There was only one car in sight, that smelled really bad of MJ as I drove by.  It seems the druggies have found a place to hang out all day long and not be bothered by anyone.  I didn't stop and say hello.  

This picture of all the blackbirds ... this is how it used to be on the ranch.  There were thousands of blackbirds everywhere.  This area is a big rest stop for the birds heading south for the winter.  Canadian geese used to land on our irrigated pasture, eating up everything in sight.   

It was so bad that the farmer who owned this entire section, donated the land to the birds.  They flood irrigate it to entice the birds to stop over here, and even plant rice and corn for the birds to eat.  

This is the first year I've seen so many killdeer on the road.  These guys aren't the smartest, but I love the sound they make.  They make their nest by just scooting rocks into a circle on the road.  That's where they lay their eggs and feed their babies.  If you get near, they will throw out one wing and pretend it's broken, hobbling along until they think you are far enough away from their nest.  Then they fly off.  

When moving cattle, we tried to keep them off the roads so the eggs wouldn't get broken.  Silly killdeer!!

It's still early for the birds.  There are lots of mud hens and a few ducks ... actually 242 different varieties of birds hang out here on their way south, and again on their way back north.

When the land was first donated, about the time we were struggling with the ranch, my Dad went to work here running the heavy equipment to make the ponds and waterways.  Most all of the guys had to work nights.  To keep the boredom at bay, they used to prank each other quite often.  I can't tell you how many times my dad bit into a sandwich of axle grease.

There's a road around the entire property, along with a narrative if you turn to the right radio channel.  You can see pictures of the birds here ... pictures  ... then click on the name of the bird.  Honestly, there are so many, it's mind boggling.  

With it being so early in the year, they don't stay put when you drive by.  Even with my camera lens, I didn't get many close up pictures.

In another month, all this water will be covered with birds.  It's an amazing sight to see.  I will definitely have to come back in November.

Finally ... I see some on the fly.  Canadian geese seem to be the early birds.  Sadly, they were too far away to see when they landed.  

There's more .... 191 pictures in all, so I will save you the agony and post a few more tomorrow.  Don't you wish you were in your duck blind?  Out here it's a photographer's blind, but I have yet to find the nerve to walk that far and leave my truck all by itself.  

It probably has something to do with seeing that car parked there with the engine running.  When I got close, someone popped up from the front seat.  Hmmmmm I know what YOU are doing!!!

More of the story tomorrow.