2018 06-05 Yolo County
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It was sunny with a mostly blue sky. Air temperatures were in the high 70⁰F and very pleasant. Following up on eBird postings this week regarding the presence of young burrowing owls in one of our main spots, Suellen and I did a little bit of photo-recon. About two weeks ago we saw 2 or 3 pairs of birds and no owlets. Today our luck improved and we had a total of 9 confirmed owls with a possibility of another one or two in their burrows out of sight. One burrow had 4 definite birds and possibly a 5th down in the burrow. Things were good in the neighborhood.
Next, we drove past the South Putah Creek Park in search of yellow-billed magpies. There were none seen from the road. We did not stop or hike.
Sightings of white pelicans and two raptors took place near the end of County Road 30 at Willow Slough. There were a couple dozen pelicans soaring above the slough wetlands – great to see in the bright sun against the blue sky. One of the two hawks was a large red-tailed hawk that was perched on top of one of the hundreds of hay bales in an open field. It flushed before I could get a shot of it on the hay, but I did catch it in flight. The second hawk was a juvenile white-tailed kite. It was perched atop a tree along the edge of the slough a tad far from the lens. It was very relaxed and spent some time grooming and stretching.
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Read MoreIt was sunny with a mostly blue sky. Air temperatures were in the high 70⁰F and very pleasant. Following up on eBird postings this week regarding the presence of young burrowing owls in one of our main spots, Suellen and I did a little bit of photo-recon. About two weeks ago we saw 2 or 3 pairs of birds and no owlets. Today our luck improved and we had a total of 9 confirmed owls with a possibility of another one or two in their burrows out of sight. One burrow had 4 definite birds and possibly a 5th down in the burrow. Things were good in the neighborhood.
Next, we drove past the South Putah Creek Park in search of yellow-billed magpies. There were none seen from the road. We did not stop or hike.
Sightings of white pelicans and two raptors took place near the end of County Road 30 at Willow Slough. There were a couple dozen pelicans soaring above the slough wetlands – great to see in the bright sun against the blue sky. One of the two hawks was a large red-tailed hawk that was perched on top of one of the hundreds of hay bales in an open field. It flushed before I could get a shot of it on the hay, but I did catch it in flight. The second hawk was a juvenile white-tailed kite. It was perched atop a tree along the edge of the slough a tad far from the lens. It was very relaxed and spent some time grooming and stretching.
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