Up at 6:30 am.  I headed over to the American River Bend Park for my walk this morning.  It was chilly, about 48°, but clear.

I wasn’t looking for anything in particular and just wanted the fresh air and exercise.  Still, I came across mule deer, wild turkeys, and jackrabbits.  I found some Red Admiral Butterfly caterpillars among the stinging nettles, and there were a lot of Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies flitting around.  I also found a lot of their eggs on the pipevine plants along the trails.

The grasses are all getting lush and long; the black walnut trees are starting to develop their catkins; the elderberry bushes are starting to bud and the valley sedges are… “sedging”.  Hah!  There’s also poison oak emerging and growing everywhere.  The vines are flowering now and look really pretty… attracting people who don’t know what they are to touch them…

I found a Red-Shouldered Hawk in a tree above part of the trail and came across a House Wren singing to attract a female.  So there were little things to see here and there all along my walk.  Heading back to the car, I saw an osprey “kiting” over the river.  I was pretty far away, so I managed to snap a few photos of it.  They’re such gorgeous birds – and always an exciting sight to see.

I walked around for about 3½ hours and then headed home.

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