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On December 5, 2016 Suellen and I surveyed Payen Road, El Dorado Hills, in search of a burrowing owl and had no owl sightings. We returned today with a similar lack of owls. However, as we slowly drove down the road, there were several other sightings of interest photographically.

The dead cow reported in December is now mostly a pile of bones. It is still being picked-at by turkey vultures. As we were sitting in the front seat of the car deciding where to go for a good shot of the buzzards, something unusual caught the corner of our eyes. A bald eagle rose up, apparently from the bone pile, and took flight. Soon it was joined by a second bald eagle and the two soared high above the nearby hills riding an updraft. A few shots of one eagle in flight might turn out. NOTE: these may be the same pair of baldies that we saw last year perched on the big El Dorado Hills stone sign along northbound HWY 50.

There were not as may raptors today as December. This was strange to us, since we’ve had record-breaking rainfall for the past week and today was the first full day of dry, partly sunny conditions. A single red –tailed hawk took flight from atop a telephone pole long before we got near. A pair of red-shouldered hawks soared together above the western hills. A lone and very skittish American kestrel kept its distance.

The hills to the east were full of grazing cattle. Suellen spotted a pair of horses grazing with them. Then, a couple dozen yards further up the hills, she saw something small and mammalian moving in the grass. A lone coyote came down the hills, passed under the barbed wire fence, crossed the railroad tracks, paused to look at us (and the camera), and continued under another fence to keep on its westerly course. The animal was very bushy with a winter coat.

No other raptors or interesting mammals were observed.

You never know what Mother Nature has in store.

Bob Perry and Suellen Perry




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