We made the 2-hour drive out across Pacheco Pass to the San Joaquin Valley to visit Merced Wildlife Refuge this weekend. It’s a wetland area and an important part of the Pacific Flyway, and we’d heard that there are a lot of birds there now. We wanted to get there before all the winter birds migrate away.
It was a good day. We spent a couple of hours driving the 5-mile auto tour route at Merced, and we saw a lot of birds. Our car battery died, but we got a quick jump from AAA. We continued on to San Luis National Wildlife refuge, where we saw fewer birds, but enjoyed the distant tule elk and the varied wetlands. It was dark by the time we headed home, with a lot of shots in the camera and 49 species of birds recorded for the day.