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Fierce winds blew from the north across NorCal. Curious to see what impact they had on the wetlands, we made a shortened trek on the driving loop. The reality of the situation was this: the strong wind whipping across the reeds was amazing to see, but the blowing dust and tiny mowed, dried rice field fragments made it difficult. We saw very few shorebirds, no ducks, two small groups of white-fronted geese, one great white egret making no headway into the wind, and a couple of harriers.
My favorite photographic take-away was a video capture of some unique wind-induced wave patterns in the reeds. We cut the drive short and bailed out before any damage could be done. There may be other, less dusty wetlands to explore on windy days. We shall see…

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