Happy 4^th of July.  Up at 5:30 am, and out the door before 6:00 to go to the American River Bend Park for a walk.  It was about 59°when I got there with a slight breeze blowing, so it was nice.  I was expecting the place to be crawling with people for the holiday, but nope. I had the trails almost to myself all the while I was out there. 

The very first thing I saw when I drove in was a doe crossing the road in front of me.  She stopped and looked behind her, and then I saw her fawn come out after her and scurry across the road, too.  I tried to get photos, but I had to shoot through the windshield so… nuthin’.  Dang it!  But the park was otherwise pretty kind, giving me two other surprises with better photo ops.

CLICK HERE to see the full album of photos.

The first of those two was getting the chance to see some Rio Grande Wild Turkey poults (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia). I hardly ever get to see them because the moms are so good at keeping them hidden. This was a group of three adults and five poults. The poults were all fledged in their first feathers but still too small to fly.  Among the adults was the leucistic (black and white) female I see often in the park. She was following after the other two, so I inferred that she was “learning” from them. She mimicked a lot of what they did, and also seemed to be helping out with protecting the babies.

At one point, one of the adults jumped up into an elderberry bush and started pulling berries off and dropping them to the ground so the babies could get them. A few seconds later, one of the poults got up into the bush, as well, but couldn’t reach the berries and jumped down again. So cute.  I think that little guy was blind on one side. It kept on eye shut all the time, and the lid looked “flat” in the socket (instead of rounded out by an eyeball).

I walked with the small flock for a while, but the adults were really good about keeping the kids out of the sunlight, for the most part, and keeping themselves between the babies and me. Who says turkeys are stupid?

The second surprise came when I walked down near the shore of the American River because there was a Buttonbush down there in full bloom and I think the flowers are so cool-looking. Anyway, while I was taking pictures of the flowers, I caught a glimpse of something moving past my foot and going behind me, so I turned around and saw a spotted snaky form slipping through the rocks.  At first I thought it was a gopher snake because they’re really common in the park, but then I caught a glimpse of the head. Not a gopher snake.

It was a young RATTLESNAKE. It was about as long as my forearm, so not too-too big, but still large enough to pack a good supply of venom. What was weird was: when I first saw it, it was in diffused light so all of the light parts on it looked pale blue and all of the spots on it looked kind of orangey. Very odd.

I followed after it a little bit to try to get more photos — which is hard for me on the shore because it’s all rocks there and my feet don’t work well on unstable cobbly ground.  I stopped when the snake got pissed off at me and wound itself into a striking position. Uh, yikes! I took just a few more photos and then let it be.

I also came across a small family of crows: a parent and two fledglings, I think. I saw the parent hand off a rock to the kids – which they weren’t interested in — and then pick up some seeds from along the shore.  The fledglings were very loud and fussy, demanding that mom feed them (even though they were large enough to fly and forage by themselves.) Huge mouths!  They cracked me up.            

Walking through the rocks on the shore, and then having to climb back up an incline to get to the trail pretty much did me in, though. The bones in my feet are “welding together” like Mom’s did from arthritis, so my feet don’t bend and flex like they should, which is why walking on uneven ground is hard for me these days.  Still, I was able to walk for about three hours total before heading back to the house.

Species List:

1. Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus,
2. Ash-Throated Flycatcher, Myiarchus cinerascens,
3. Black Nightshade, Solanum nigrum,
4. Black Walnut, Juglans nigra,
5. Blue Elderberry, Sambucus cerulea,
6. Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis,
7. California Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta,
8. California Pipevine, Aristolochia californica,
9. California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica,
10. California Wild Grape, Vitis californica,
11. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus,
12. Common Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos,
13. Common Green Lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea,
14. Common Merganser, Mergus merganser,
15. Doveweed, Turkey Mullein, Croton setigerus,
16. Fennel, Sweet Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare,
17. Flowering Tobacco, Nicotiana alata,
18. Giant Mullein, Verbascum thapsus,
19. Golden Shield Lichen, Xanthoria parietina,
20. Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias,
21. Green Shield Lichen, Flavoparmelia caperata,
22. Horsetail, Rough Horsetail, Equisetum hyemale,
23. Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni,
24. Italian Thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus,
25. Live Oak Gall Wasp, 2nd Generation, Callirhytis quercuspomiformis,
26. Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos,
27. Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura,
28. Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, Crotalus oreganus oreganus,
29. Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Picoides nuttallii,
30. Pumpkin Gall Wasp, Dryocosmus minusculus,
31. Red Swamp Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad, Procambarus clarkia,
32. Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus,
33. Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia,
34. Rusty Tussock Moth, Orgyia antiqua,
35. Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus,
36. Tarweed, Common Madia, Madia elegans,
37. Tree Tobacco, Nicotiana glauca,
38. Treehopper, Oak Treehopper, Platycotis vittata,
39. Western Bluebird, Sialia mexicana,
40. White-Breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis,