Wild about wildlife!

We're always on the lookout for anything to do with nature. The Humboldt National Wildlife Refuge was the perfect place for an afternoon walk. The refuge is located just south of the town of Eureka. We spotted the sign as we traveled south to the Avenue of the Giants, another California Redwood forest.

This refuge is located on an estuary, where ocean meets river water. It's one of the most important stopovers along the Pacific Flyway.

Rolling fog can be seen in the distance as we head out over the bridge to the Shorebird Loop Trail.

As we passed through a grassland area, 2 white egrets become apprehensive, and soon both of them are in flight.
Farther into our walk we came across another egret near the rocks. No smile from him, though. He was quite stoic.
A few minutes later, he was off too. That was okay with me, since I got a nice picture of him in flight.
Along the interpretive trail were benches. Don sat down and took a moment to figure exactly where we were on the trail as I busied myself with picture taking.
As we got closer to Long Pond, it became much cooler and foggier! When we started out, it was warm, but by the time we got to this spot, I was glad I had brought along my jacket.

This is a view looking out in the bay area.....also very foggy! We heard other people talking, but couldn't see them until about 10 minutes later, when it lifted a bit.

This rusty piece of metal was once used by the Jupiter dredge. It was used from the 1930's to the 1970's to dredge the salt marshes, creating a system of dikes and transforming the area into pasture. Unfortunately, this reduced the bay's estuary by 40%.
Look closely for the deer in the photo. Between the fog and the varied brown grasses, he was almost impossible to spot. If he had remained still, I would have never, ever seen him!
Turning around another corner in the loop, we scared another egret. He promptly took flight and disappeared into the fog.
The fog rolled back (again) and across the ditch was this deer. Actually, there were two deer, a buck and a doe, but the buck was farther into the grass. I bet he was telling her, "You go out and check to see if those people are still there. I'm right behind you."
There were still plenty of wildflowers along the trail.
This is a winter home for thousands of migratory geese, ducks, swans and shorebirds. Over 200 different species of birds have been identified using this as either a stopover or a permanent home.
The lone egret doesn't seem to mind that he is outnumbered by the flock of Canadian geese. After he landed in their midst, the geese slowly turned their backs and walked away from him. I've never heard of "bird shunning" before, have you? The poor egret just didn't fit in.
We saw this one as we headed back towards the visitor center. He was still, and didn't move a muscle as I walked farther ahead to get a better shot (or should I have said picture?) .
As I turned around and started to walk away, he took off in flight and then landed farther out in the marsh.
Don is ahead of me as we near the visitor center. This is one place that I could visit on a weekly basis if I lived close by. Each week would bring new discoveries! The ranger at the Visitor Center said we had just missed a man who comes out here each day, armed only with a camera. They had a book full of his photographs, showing the diversity of the birds and animals that can be seen here. All you need is patience and a camera. You'll have "no egrets" about going here!