It was raining and overcast when I got up, and rained on and off for most of the day. I eased into my morning with some coffee, and did some journaling. We had to be out of the house between 1:00 and 4:00 pm because the realtor-people wanted to do an Open House today. *Sigh*

The dog and I went to Woodland first. I wanted to see if I could find the Burrowing Owls along Road 104… only to find that you can’t get there from Woodland (even though the maps say you can) because the Conaway Ranch blocks the way. *Sigh* Driving around, though, looking for a different route of access to Road 104, I came across the Egret and Heron rookery along Road 103.

There’s a stand of eucalyptus trees in someone’s front yard, and the trees are full of nests. I didn’t go onto the property, but parked across the road and got a few photos. The white Great Egrets are so white that when I tried to get a photo of the nests underneath them, the birds blended in with the “white” sky. I’ll have to go back there and try other settings some other day. I saw Great Egrets and a pair of Black-Crowned Night Herons. It looks like they’re just starting their nests. I saw some egrets in a nearby field, picking up sticks as building materials. the nests look so “small” in comparison to the size of the birds, but I guess they know what they’re doing. Hah!

Then I headed back toward Sacramento and stopped at William Land Park to see the big pond there. It had been closed “forever” while it was refurbished and cleaned out, and I hadn’t been there since they opened it up again last month. It looks very much like it did before, only a little tidier.

Because the water is so “clean” right now, there are no fish, crustaceans or waterborne insects for the birds to eat, so there weren’t a lot of birds hanging around; mostly just ducks and geese. One mama Mallard had a troupe of ducklings already (one of them very “blonde”). I’m assuming she’s a new mom, though, because her kids runs all over the place and she doesn’t supervise them well. Hah! Sergeant Margie liked the walk around the pond.

I was irritated to see a couple walking a large dog that was obviously a wolf-hybrid (which are illegal to own in California)… and they were walking it without a leash. The woman had the leash in her hand but not on the dog. That dog was big enough to take down a CAR. Where are these humans’ brains?!

Then I went over to the Cosumnes River Preserve to see if I could find the Virginia Rail that has been hanging out by the boardwalk. (She’s there almost every year and usually has a clutch of 3 or 4 chicks.) No rail – but I think she was hiding because there were a bunch of single parents there with their screaming kids. I saw one kid trying to chase down and stomp on a sparrow, and I wanted to smack him. Hateful little bastard. I just don’t understand what motivates that kind of behavior.

I did get some photos of Tree Swallows, Marsh Wren nests, and some bullfrogs. I tried to get some photos of a young garter snake slithering through the water, but it moved too quickly, so I only go the center portion of it. No one else could tell it was snake in the water, I guess, I know what it is. Hah!

By the time I was done there it was almost 4:00 pm, so I headed back to the house and thankfully the realtor people were gone.