Pronghorns And Parkfield CA

Dale Matson

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Pronghorn Antelope

Sharon and I heard that there were Pronghorn Antelope in various places around California, which was a surprise to us. Having more discretionary time than most, we decided to go look for some the following day.

We heard from a friend Mark, that there was a small herd near Parkfield CA. The little community is located on the San Andreas Fault and more famous for earthquakes than Pronghorns. It is located about 2 hours southwest of Fresno primarily following State Highway 41 south to the Parkfield turn-off (Cholame Valley Road) which heads north to Parkfield. It was along this stretch of road that we came across a group of about 10 Pronghorn Antelope.

I was glad to have my Sony A7R2 and A6000 to use with my Sony Fe 100-400mm lens. I also had my 1.4X converter which gave me 560mm. I was disappointed to see a thin wire electric fence behind the antelope in all of my photographs. I took the fence out in some of the shots using Photoshop. The Antelope eventually worked their way out of range of even the telephoto lens.

 Hawk At Bottom

After this, we decided to visit Parkfield (Population 18). Soon after we crossed the bridge over Little Cholame Creek we were in “Downtown" Parkfield (formerly Russelsville). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkfield,_California

We were there at noon and thought we might try the cafeteria which was not open on Tuesday so we ate our bag lunches we brought along just in case.

"Be Here When It Happens"

On our return to Fresno we took Vineyard Canyon Road to Indian Valley Road to Peach Tree Road to Highway 198 back to Highway 41. We were looking for Tule Elk to no avail but the scenery was quite interesting and scenic.

Bee Boxes