I got up around 7:00 am and headed out to the American River Bend Park for a walk. By the time I got there it was really already too late and getting too warm to start a walk, so I kept my visit kind of short.
Between seasons at the park, there’s not a whole lot to see right now, but I did get a glimpse of deer and some lovely looking sulphur shelf fungus when I first came through the gate. There were no migrating waterfowl on the river, but there were plenty of fishermen and some kayakers. One of the fisherman had caught a large Chinook salmon and was filleting it when I walked by him, the bright silvery fish in the water at his feet, its rose-orange flesh in his hands.
CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.
The Acorn Woodpeckers are busy filling up and protecting their granary trees. I got to see a couple of Red-Shouldered Hawks and a Cooper’s Hawk as they lighted on branches to rest for a moment before flying off again. Along the riverside, I saw several Turkey Vultures, some of them battling for fragments of salmon the fishermen discarded. I also came across a large flock of Wild Turkeys.
Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus 
Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura
When I sat at one of the tables in the picnic area, I saw several Oak Titmice and Western Bluebirds. There was also as mall swarm of Yellowjackets chewing on something on the ground. I tried to get a close look at what they were so excited about, but it just looked like wood chips to me. Maybe there was something on it that I couldn’t see… Or maybe they were gathering wood-material for their nest? Not sure.
I was out there for about 2 hours and then headed back home. I hadn’t taken any pain pills before leaving the house, so I was hurting by the time I got back.
Species List:
- Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus
- California Buckeye Chestnut Tree, Aesculus californica
- California Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta
- California Pipevine, Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia californica
- California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica
- Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
- Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
- Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus
- Common Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
- Common Merganser, Mergus merganser
- Cooper’s Hawk, Acipiter cooperii
- Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
- Killdeer, Charadrius vociferous
- Live Oak Gall Wasp, 1st Generation, Callirhytis quercuspomiformis [spiky ball]
- Mallard duck, Anas platyrhynchos
- Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura
- Oak Apple Gall Wasp, Andricus quercuscalifornicus
- Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus
- Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus
- Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia
- Sulphur Shelf Fungus, Western Hardwood Sulphur Shelf, Laetiporus gilbertsonii
- Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima
- Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura
- Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
- Western Bluebird, Sialia Mexicana
- Western Fence Lizard, Blue Belly, Sceloporus occidentalis
- Western Tussock Moth, Orgyia vetusta [cocoons]
- White-Breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis
- Yellowjacket, Western Yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica
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