2020 05-02 Sac NWR
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We arrived at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge around 12:30pm under partly sunny skies. Air temperatures were in the mid-70’s and winds were moderate but increasing from the south. Everything was green and the roads were lined by tall reeds, grasses and shrubs. We made the full loop including the seasonal southern extension, and left the refuge around 2:30pm.
On the mammal side, we saw a couple of jackrabbits and a raccoon. The raccoon was large, in the middle of the roadway, and most conspicuously reddish-brown (with typical ringed tail stripes). It hid deep in the reeds before we could get an acceptable shot…no getting out of vehicles allowed!
Many of the birds we saw flushed quickly or were distant and not photographable, this included a ring-necked pheasant, a pair of pheasants, a great white egret on a post, a zooming northern harrier, and a red-tailed hawk or two. To be fair, many of these birds, particularly the raptors, were fighting the wind.
Coot aggregations, a marsh wren, a red-tailed hawk, Canada geese feeding upside down like ducks, Canada geese with cute goslings in green grass, spring wildflowers, a cinnamon teal, a cute killdeer in the road, and a somewhat distant great white egret in flight were photographed. Additional scenery captures included the North Fork of Logan Creek and several videos of the vegetation after the wind velocity increased.
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Read MoreWe arrived at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge around 12:30pm under partly sunny skies. Air temperatures were in the mid-70’s and winds were moderate but increasing from the south. Everything was green and the roads were lined by tall reeds, grasses and shrubs. We made the full loop including the seasonal southern extension, and left the refuge around 2:30pm.
On the mammal side, we saw a couple of jackrabbits and a raccoon. The raccoon was large, in the middle of the roadway, and most conspicuously reddish-brown (with typical ringed tail stripes). It hid deep in the reeds before we could get an acceptable shot…no getting out of vehicles allowed!
Many of the birds we saw flushed quickly or were distant and not photographable, this included a ring-necked pheasant, a pair of pheasants, a great white egret on a post, a zooming northern harrier, and a red-tailed hawk or two. To be fair, many of these birds, particularly the raptors, were fighting the wind.
Coot aggregations, a marsh wren, a red-tailed hawk, Canada geese feeding upside down like ducks, Canada geese with cute goslings in green grass, spring wildflowers, a cinnamon teal, a cute killdeer in the road, and a somewhat distant great white egret in flight were photographed. Additional scenery captures included the North Fork of Logan Creek and several videos of the vegetation after the wind velocity increased.
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