Leon Turnbull Photography

If you remember, I recently had a post entitled “Canadians”, which was photos of some Canada Geese that I found, which actually swam right up to me as I was sitting by the river. I had at least one friend complain to me about shooting “foreigners” instead of good old American birds (even though, technically, those geese were probably living in the U.S. permanently on their “green cards”). Okay friend, you know who you are, here’s a photo of a true blue American for you: an American Coot. And it was pretty cool, because this duck-like bird swam right up to where I was sitting by the marsh too, so I was able to get some really good close-ups of it. I figure he was either stupid or fearless, because he paid no attention to me at all, as if I was not there at all. Yet all his other friends stayed well away from me the entire time I was there.Well he may be stupid, but he sure is a pretty guy, don’t you think.

I love this shot. It’s another one from my local marsh. Whenever I’ve been down there, I’ve seen this GBH, and usually the Great Egret as well. They don’t usually let you get too close to them. Indeed, this heron had his eye on me the entire time, it seemed he was watching me even when I was on the other side of the marsh. There is a walkway up above the marsh that let me get above and closer to the heron. I walked up there slowly to a railing that let me get fairly close to him. He was eyeing me the whole time but didn’t seem to mind me up there. I took some shots, then continued a littler further to get even closer to him. I stood there taking some shots and watching him up close through my viewfinder. As I was watching him, he just turned his head slightly towards me to get a better look at me. Click. Oooh, the intensity of his stare is just neck tingling. I guess you just had to be there with me to fully appreciate it. But that is why I love this image.

Here’s another one:

Silver Falls is a hidden gem deep within Eldorado Natl. Forest, a beautiful 41 ft. waterfall on Otter Creek. But it is not so easy to get to. It is a long drive on unplowed dirt forest roads, and I was wondering if I’d be able to get there in the winter. Well, as it turned out there was no snow on the roads. But plenty of mud, due to snow that was melting. My SUV was in desperate need of a bath after this drive. The hike itself is a strenuous one, pretty easy getting down to the falls, but not so easy getting back up. The elevation loss is 1300 ft. over 1.5 miles. It is a huffer for sure. But I was prepared for that, because I had done this hike before. My dog had not done this hike before, though. She had no problems with the hike, but did pick up a couple ticks along the way. Once down at the falls, I wanted to get across the creek to shoot the falls from the other side. I had brought my water shoes along, but when I got down there, I brilliantly figured that I could save time and just rock hop across the creek. Ahh, no. Upon my attempt at doing such a feat, I planted both feet firmly in the creek. My hiking boots and socks were now soaking wet, and I had a tough climb out of the canyon ahead of me. Not a good thing. Thus, I ended up taking my boots off and putting on my water shoes. Across the creek I went. Took my photos of the waterfall. Back across the creek. Sat down to put my socks and hiking boots back on. Worrying that I was touching poison oak in doing so (fortunately, not!) Then back up the trail, huffing all the way. A good hike indeed.

I had a thought that it would be neat to try to get to Deadhorse Falls in the winter. It would be very cool with all the snow and ice around the falls (and hopefully, the waterfall would be flowing as well). What I wasn’t sure was how far we could drive on the unplowed dirt roads before we had to walk the rest of the way to the waterfall.

My friend Brian came along for the journey, and his dog, Duke (plus my dog, Kaya). We drove as far as we could, then came to a stop 4 miles from the waterfall. That meant it would be an 8 mile hike there and back through the snow. I was up for the hike, but I wasn’t sure Brian was so keen on that long of a hike. But he agreed to go for it, nonetheless. The dogs had a grand old time tromping through the snow. Kaya is an old pro at these hikes, but Duke had never hiked so far in his life. But he did very well keeping up with Kaya. We were able to follow tracks for most of the way until the last mile. Then we put on our snowshoes to hike the last part up to the falls.

Once we got up near the waterfall, it is a very steep descent down into the canyon. Not so bad in the summer, but a bit treacherous in the winter. Once again, I stood for awhile pondering the situation. There has to be a way down there. I didn’t hike 4 miles through the snow to be stopped here! Finally, I found an easy way down. Even the dogs were able to get down to the bottom without any difficulty.

Deadhorse Falls is a difficult waterfall to photograph. The angles are funny because it is such a tall waterfall (60 ft.), and you have to essentially shoot it right at the base of the falls, looking up at it. With snow around, it is even harder to photograph.

After photographing the waterfall, we took the very long slow 4 mile trek back out. Was it worth it? Brian would probably say no, but I thought it was a really nice hike through the snow, even if the waterfall wasn’t flowing fabulously. Would I do it again? Probably not, but who knows for sure.

I stopped off at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge on my way up to Red Bluff this last time around. I had never been there before, but it is a very interesting area. Thousands of different birds winter in this area along what is called the Pacific Flyway. These refuges were created for the birds after almost all of California’s wetlands were destroyed in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. There is an auto tour route that allows you to drive around the marshy areas. Interestingly, when you are in your vehicle, the birds don’t really bother with you, and you can actually get closer to them than if you were out on foot. Still though, the road doesn’t get as close to some areas that I would like. By far the best shot I got was of this peregrine falcon taking off.