Feeling tired and stressed, I decided to try making the drive to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Rather than being a therapeutic and relaxing time, however, I was faced with irritation after irritation, so the drive actually left me feeling more stressed and exhausted than I was before I started. *Heavy sigh*
CLICK HERE for the album of photos.
Traffic wasn’t too terribly terrible, but it seemed like I hit every freaking red light there was, and the monster semi’s on the highway were “always” in front of me like giant snails. When I got to the refuge, I could see Bank Swallows collecting mud in the slough near the front gate, so I stopped to take some photos – and, of course, the birds wouldn’t cooperate, and two employees pulled up in their cars behind me and honked at me. Grrrrr. The rest of the day kind of went like that: I saw Gallinules, but they ducked into the tules before I could get a photo; I could hear Bitterns giving their “pumperlunk” calls close by, but couldn’t see them; it was windy, so most of the birds were hunkered down near the ground or deep in the trees; where there would normally be dozens of Marsh Wrens around, I saw only two deep in the tules; the dragonflies hadn’t come up from the water yet; what damselflies there were around were the tiniest ones that are like trying to photograph a strand of hair; there weren’t any of the Clark’s or Western Grebes that I was expecting to be out there by now; I couldn’t even get shots of ground squirrels… It was just one frustration after another. By the time I left, I had a splitting headache and just wanted to ram someone with my car. ((I didn’t though.)) *Heavy sigh-2*
Species List:
- American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana,
- American Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus,
- American Bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus,
- American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos,
- Bank Swallow, Riparia riparia,
- Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans,
- Black-Tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus californicus,
- Blessed Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum,
- Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae,
- California Dock, Rumex californicus,
- California Milkweed, Asclepias californica,
- Canada Goose, Branta canadensis,
- Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera,
- Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus,
- Common Gallinule, Gallinula galeata,
- Convergent Lady Beetle, Hippodamia convergens,
- Desert Cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii,
- Double-Crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus,
- Downingia, Downingia sp.,
- English Lawn Daisy, Bellis perennis,
- Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto,
- Familiar Bluet Damselfly, Enallagma civile,
- Goodding’s Willow, Salix gooddingii,
- Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias,
- Great Egret, Ardea alba,
- Greater White-Fronted Goose, Anser albifrons,
- Italian Thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus,
- Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos,
- Marsh Wren, Cistothorus palustris,
- Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura,
- Mute Swan, Cygnus olor,
- Northern Pintail, Anas acuta,
- Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata,
- Painted Lady Butterfly, Vanessa cardui,
- Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum,
- Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis,
- Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus,
- Ring-Necked Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus,
- Short-tailed ichneumon wasps, Ophion sp.,
- Snowy Egret, Egretta thula,
- Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia,
- Tule, Schoenoplectus acutus,
- Variegated Meadowhawk Dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum,
- Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis,
- Western Kingbird, Tyrannus verticalis,
- Wild Teasel, Dipsacus fullonum,
