2019 05-20 Sacramento NWR
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Today there was a pause in the Pacific storm cycle that has made things unseasonably wet and broken quite a few rainfall records. We drove the loop at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge under mostly sunny skies and a moderate cool breeze. It was great to be outdoors and not hiding from the rain. There were no other cars or people on the loop during our nearly 2 hour drive. We started driving the circuit around 11am and soon encountered a pair of rabbits. There would be another pair on the final leg as we neared the exit point. The extended summer loop near Pond 2 was open and not too far into it we photographed a cooperative red-tailed hawk. It would prove to be the only raptor pics taken today. The hawk was perched atop some dry reeds surrounded by tall yellow flowers that grew along the banks of an irrigation channel. A couple of red-winged blackbirds were perched nearby and when the hawk finally flushed, the blackbirds mobbed it and one even dug its claws in and rode the hawks back. This was seen through the windshield. The National Refuges outlaw getting out of your vehicle on the loop, thus no photos were taken of the two species interacting in front of my truck. A bit further along the channel a ring-necked pheasant was photographed before it slid into the reeds. At the viewing platform a large black and white, woodpecker was photographed as it pecked on a dead tree trunk and also seemed to be excavating a hole. The area west of the platform is now dry and the turtles have all moved on.
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Read MoreToday there was a pause in the Pacific storm cycle that has made things unseasonably wet and broken quite a few rainfall records. We drove the loop at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge under mostly sunny skies and a moderate cool breeze. It was great to be outdoors and not hiding from the rain. There were no other cars or people on the loop during our nearly 2 hour drive. We started driving the circuit around 11am and soon encountered a pair of rabbits. There would be another pair on the final leg as we neared the exit point. The extended summer loop near Pond 2 was open and not too far into it we photographed a cooperative red-tailed hawk. It would prove to be the only raptor pics taken today. The hawk was perched atop some dry reeds surrounded by tall yellow flowers that grew along the banks of an irrigation channel. A couple of red-winged blackbirds were perched nearby and when the hawk finally flushed, the blackbirds mobbed it and one even dug its claws in and rode the hawks back. This was seen through the windshield. The National Refuges outlaw getting out of your vehicle on the loop, thus no photos were taken of the two species interacting in front of my truck. A bit further along the channel a ring-necked pheasant was photographed before it slid into the reeds. At the viewing platform a large black and white, woodpecker was photographed as it pecked on a dead tree trunk and also seemed to be excavating a hole. The area west of the platform is now dry and the turtles have all moved on.
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Red-tailed hawk with an ever watchful red-winged blackbird. When the hawk took flight, this blackbird was part of an anti-hawk mob and it rode the back of the hawk as it flew out of town.
Buteo jamaicensis and Phasianus colchicus 2019 05-20 Sac NWR--005
