DAY 14 OF MY VACATION. Around 8:00 am I headed over to the Cosumnes River Preserve for the second time this week. They’ve gotten more of their water in already. I think they flooded a couple of extra fields because they were having a “Ducks in Scopes” and nature photography thing going today. They thought they’d have to cancel the activities because of rain, but although the clouds threatened, it was a rainless 65° there. I steered clear of the groups of people – they make so much noise, they scare off all of the birds – and sort of made my own path around the front half of the refuge. (I might go back tomorrow, to do the river walk there; we’ll see what the weather is like.)
CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.
I saw a couple of Red-Tailed Hawks. One of them was sitting in the top of a tree BEHIND all the people who had their birding scopes set up. I didn’t tell anyone he was there, and just got a bunch of photos of him from different angles before moving on. Y’gotta pay attention to what’s around you, folks! Hah!
Among the ducks, I saw the usual suspects including Northern Shovelers and Pintails, Green-Winged Teals, and Cinnamon Teals. And among the other shorebirds, I saw Greater Yellowlegs, Black-Necked Stilts, Long-Billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, and tons of America Coots. There were also White-Crowned Sparrows, Golden-Crown Sparrows, Lesser Goldfinches, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Savannah Sparrows and Black Phoebes.
Along the wetlands walks, the oak trees were still sporting some wasp galls, and the poison oak was looking very Christmasy in red and green. The rain is also waking up the lichen, which is starting to fatten up, stretch out and reproduce.
I saw several groups of Sandhill Cranes fly overhead, so I tried to watch where they landed and then went over to where I thought they might be. They usually keep pretty far away from the roads and walkways, but I was able to get some photos of a small group of them that were making their way across the top of a levy. Most of the time they had their butts toward me, but I did get a few side-view shots when they turned their heads. In that same area I came across a couple of Great Egrets, so I got some shots of them, too.
As I was heading out of the area, I caught glimpse of a large bird sitting on top of a pile tules – and it looked awfully “pale”. I thought it might be a juvenile Bald Eagle because of its size, but I only got photos of the back of its head, so I couldn’t see what the eye-ridge or beak looked like. Now, I’m not sure if it was an eagle or just a really big super-light-morph Red-Tail – or something else. When it took off flying, much of its tail was white (which would be indicative of an eagle)… but I’m still not sure. If it was a juvenile Bald Eagle it would be REALLY unusual for this area.
Anyway, I was at the preserve for about 3½ hours and then headed back home.
