Last Tuesday, I ventured out to the marshes and salt ponds in the south Napa/Sonoma counties area to try out my new binoculars. It is a great birding area with the exception of one thing: duck hunters. They were slogging around with their dogs, occasionally letting loose with a volley of shotgun blasts. Near the parking area there is a pond that is off limits to hunting where I spotted a beautiful male American Widgeon, Ruddy Ducks, Coots, and a few others I wasn't too sure of.
I set off along the dikes of the old Cargill Salt Company ponds where I spotted a flock of Black-necked Stilts, a few Greater Yellowlegs, and numerous little sandpiper type birds. While I was scanning a group of little sandpipers covering some dead tree limbs out in the salt pond, into view came a ghoulish sight - a dead cormorant swaying from a length of fishing line. The salt ponds are slowly being converted back to natural marshland, but it is a slow process. I definitely plan to return after hunting season in February, hopefully seeing breeding displays of some of the 153 bird species that inhabit the area. Oh yeah, up in the air were numerous hawks and kites. I didn't take any bird pictures because a telephoto lens is needed.
2 comments:
I'm surprised you didn't try to place yourself bodily between the ducks and hunters in protest. You could start a new phase of IBRRC work -- on-location activism.
This looks like a pretty area. I look forward to more photos once those hunters clear out! And have you everconsidered getting a telephoto lens?
The hunters did not seem happy with me distracting their dogs and carrying binoculars and no gun. To get a telephoto lens I would also need a new camera and tripod - big bucks! Then instead of hiking, I would be toting around a bunch of equipment and then sitting and waiting. Sitting and watching is interesting, though.
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