More from Merced

Even without the headliner birds I described in the pervious post Merced National Wildlife Refuge provides some excellent birding. Much of the refuge isn’t accessible to the public, and much of what is accessible can only be enjoyed from inside an automobile. Visitors can drive dirt roads along a series of levies adjacent to the wetlands, but are prohibited from leaving their cars. The good thing about that is that birds fear cars less than they fear people, allowing closer approach from a car. So anyway, here are a few photos:

We saw many White-faced Ibis foraging in the shallows. These solitary birds only display their white faces during breeding season.

Small groups of gangly Black-necked Stilts were all over the place.

Northern Shovelers were by far the most abundant ducks in the refuge. Most were paired up like these two.

Ducks can be broadly divided into diving ducks and dabbling ducks. Shovelers are dabblers, as this pair demonstrate.

The gorgeous Northern Pintails were probably the second most common duck. Another dabbler. That’s a Ruddy duck (a diver) in the background. Ruddys were uncommon here.

This rather nondescript little bird is an American Pipit. The species used to be called Water Pipit. While frequently found near water they can be abundant in dry habitats as well. They were fairly common at the refuge the day we were there.

Lots and lots of Snowy Egrets. I liked this golden hour shot.

Another golden hour shot of a ubiquitous bird—a Killdeer. Such a beautiful bird close up.

The refuge was also rich in raptors, but I’ll leave that for another post.