"In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence."
Robert Lynd
Northern Mockingbird
Woodbridge
Lodi, California
January 3rd 2020
I happened upon my new hobby of, watching and photographing birds, kinda by mistake. It was this past November, and it appeared that we in, San Joaquin County, were going to be asked to stay indoors as much as possible, because of the surge of Covid-19. I was also anticipating autumn ending soon, and with it my Autumn Leaf project, so I did a quick search online to see what my options were. Purely by accident I found a link to an article about delta birds, and the Sandhill Crane in particular. A bird so revered in my area, that it has it's very own festival, held annually in November, in Lodi! Well, as you might imagine, the festival for 2020 was cancelled, due to Covid-19 concerns, but the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve was open, and nothing was mentioned about it being off limits.
Woodbridge
Lodi, California
2020 kicked my ass, and the ass of most folks I know. My nerves have felt shot. Too much Trump. Too much tragedy. Too much self whining. Too much! I wanted some peace and quiet, so it sounded like a fairly nice place to visit as a change of pace. A real chance to get out of my own head for a little while, and besides, there might be one or two new kinds of leaves to photograph! I never would have guessed how much joy that place would bring me, on that late autumn day. It was quiet, except for the sounds of the hundreds of different birds and water fowl, and the occasional human who had no clue about how successful bird watching is best done with eyes open and mouths closed. Humans! Oh well, I am happy to say, that birders and fellow photographers get alone nicely. Politics doesn't come up, when you are too busy sitting on a bench listening to a nearby bird, or watching the majestic sight of a large flock of crane returning home from wherever a crane goes for the day, or watching a sunset over Mount Diablo.
I started keeping track on day one of the beautiful birds I was photographing, and from there I discovered the Cosumnes River Wildlife Reserve, in next door Galt, California. And as of the new year, I am now keeping a Google album which I hope to fill with at least 300 new bird sightings for the year. That's my goal anyway. Between the two different reserves, I am well on my way. Realistically, I will only be able to visit there on the weekends, but there are always a ton of different types of birds at both places, and sometimes on power poles between them, to add to my album. Just last Sunday, I photographed about 25 or so, distinct birds. It was thrilling. I like having a new subject to photograph, and new places to visit. I have read that the coastline from Point Reyes to Bodega Bay is a birders paradise. I can't wait to visit, later this year, possibly in the spring, because it's also a photographers paradise. And don't tell anyone, but you can find a lot of autumn beauty just inland, at the wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties.
The quiet has never been so beautiful.
And look, there is a little autumn left to make me smile!
Oak Tree
Cosumnes River Wildlife Reserve
Galt, California
~Carly
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