I love Bosque, but it is a nasty 1300 mile drive from here, and I just can't be away that long with an ill mother.
I just spent an amazing 3 days at the Merced, CA NWR and the adjacent San Luis NWR and it is every bit as incredible as Bosque. Actually, with the dry and cold conditions reported at Bosque, I bet Merced is far better this year.
10,000 cranes, flooded pools and vernal pools, 60,000++ geese, ducks and raptors and songbirds and elk, eagles, herons, weasels, owls and more. Well-maintained 5-mile auto route and many hiking trails.
Very few people there, and a nice little town 10 miles away for supplies. only 100 miles from here, (San Francisco east bay) and a very pleasant drive.
I actually didn't make it out thru the electric gate on the auto route by 30 min after dusk (on purpose? ME??? ) and spent one of the most peaceful nights in my life in the preserve, snuggled happily in my sleeping bag in my little RV, listening to the thousands of cranes and ducks, coyotes, owls, frogs and more. Just amazingly magical.
Then, in the morning, it was 15 steps outside the RV to start shooting the wave after wave after wave of cranes and geese flying out to the corn fields for the day. Every bit as great as Bosque.
Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend the Merced NWR complex for those looking for Bosque-like places, especially those in California. http://www.fws.gov/sanluis/merced_info.htm
It sounds completely magical. I have places I like, but I don't know of any place like that with that variety in those numbers in the Southeast. Maybe someone else does and will mention it, though. If I could find a place like that I might live there.
Posted by Nick Baldwin on January 2, 2012 at 3:29 PM
thanks Sandy but I too live in Florida, thus they both are a very long ways away (for a practicing house-husband) (-:
Posted by Dottie Short on January 3, 2012 at 8:02 AM
Sandy, what a wonderful description of your special area. While it's a long way from Texas, I'll put this on my bucket list. We drove to Alaska this past summer, so N. California would be an easy drive:))
Sandy,
Bosque is out of the question for us but Merced is 5 hours from Newport. How long do you estimate the good birding to last? How far from hotels? Wondering if late January or early February will be fruitful.
Patrick
Patrick, The cranes and other wintering birds will be there to April, when they start the journey home. Jan and Feb is ideal.
The nearby small town of Los Banos is 10 miles - several hotels/motels (not the Ritz, by any means, but perfectly fine), a good assortment of basic restaurants, fuel, propane, etc.
The electric gate opens 1/2 hour before dawn, and closes 1/2 hour after sunset - be sure to be there soon after dawn, for the crane and geese fly-out. Be on the east side of the auto tour route then - you'll have wave after wave of cranes in good light to your left, and then flying through the colours of the sunrise behind you. The fly-out lasts for at least an hour, so you'll have plenty of time to change positions and places.
Be sure also to get all the good info off the website I gave above.
Have fun! Several bald eagles too that I didn't mention.
Sandy
Discussion
5 repliesI just spent an amazing 3 days at the Merced, CA NWR and the adjacent San Luis NWR and it is every bit as incredible as Bosque. Actually, with the dry and cold conditions reported at Bosque, I bet Merced is far better this year.
10,000 cranes, flooded pools and vernal pools, 60,000++ geese, ducks and raptors and songbirds and elk, eagles, herons, weasels, owls and more. Well-maintained 5-mile auto route and many hiking trails.
Very few people there, and a nice little town 10 miles away for supplies. only 100 miles from here, (San Francisco east bay) and a very pleasant drive.
I actually didn't make it out thru the electric gate on the auto route by 30 min after dusk (on purpose? ME???
Then, in the morning, it was 15 steps outside the RV to start shooting the wave after wave after wave of cranes and geese flying out to the corn fields for the day. Every bit as great as Bosque.
Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend the Merced NWR complex for those looking for Bosque-like places, especially those in California. http://www.fws.gov/sanluis/merced_info.htm
Sandy
Bosque is out of the question for us but Merced is 5 hours from Newport. How long do you estimate the good birding to last? How far from hotels? Wondering if late January or early February will be fruitful.
Patrick
The nearby small town of Los Banos is 10 miles - several hotels/motels (not the Ritz, by any means, but perfectly fine), a good assortment of basic restaurants, fuel, propane, etc.
The electric gate opens 1/2 hour before dawn, and closes 1/2 hour after sunset - be sure to be there soon after dawn, for the crane and geese fly-out. Be on the east side of the auto tour route then - you'll have wave after wave of cranes in good light to your left, and then flying through the colours of the sunrise behind you. The fly-out lasts for at least an hour, so you'll have plenty of time to change positions and places.
Be sure also to get all the good info off the website I gave above.
Have fun! Several bald eagles too that I didn't mention.
Sandy