2017 11-07-Staten Island
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Cosumnes had very few sand hill’s, which was our prime motivation for make a preliminary stop there, so we moved on to Staten. The weather was glorious as we drove Staten Rd. There were a few fields and pods with sand hill cranes and Canada geese, but at a distance from the road. The raptors were out and about. At least one harrier was working the fields, but did not approach the road. Several red-tails were on the telephone poles and flushed easily…the best shots, with better lighting, were on the way out as opposed to the back-lighting on the way in. One red-tail took flight as I was taking its portrait on the pole, and at least one flight shot was gleaned. A nice red-shouldered hawk was watched sitting on a wire before it took off.
Several kestrels were also on the poles and wires. One feisty little bird chased off a red-tail that was 5 or 10 times its size, and pecked the heck out of its back feathers before returning to a nearby pole for some nice photos.
There were no owls in or around the water tank.
On the way out, Suellen walked along the east side canal for a ways. She had two fleeting looks at what we think were muskrats. According to Sue, they came out of the weeds along the bank, took a short u-turn swim, then returned to the banks again within a second or two. We’ll keep a sharper eye out now for possible future photo ops.
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Read MoreCosumnes had very few sand hill’s, which was our prime motivation for make a preliminary stop there, so we moved on to Staten. The weather was glorious as we drove Staten Rd. There were a few fields and pods with sand hill cranes and Canada geese, but at a distance from the road. The raptors were out and about. At least one harrier was working the fields, but did not approach the road. Several red-tails were on the telephone poles and flushed easily…the best shots, with better lighting, were on the way out as opposed to the back-lighting on the way in. One red-tail took flight as I was taking its portrait on the pole, and at least one flight shot was gleaned. A nice red-shouldered hawk was watched sitting on a wire before it took off.
Several kestrels were also on the poles and wires. One feisty little bird chased off a red-tail that was 5 or 10 times its size, and pecked the heck out of its back feathers before returning to a nearby pole for some nice photos.
There were no owls in or around the water tank.
On the way out, Suellen walked along the east side canal for a ways. She had two fleeting looks at what we think were muskrats. According to Sue, they came out of the weeds along the bank, took a short u-turn swim, then returned to the banks again within a second or two. We’ll keep a sharper eye out now for possible future photo ops.
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