2022 08-02 Yolo ByPass
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2022 08-02 Yolo ByPass
Air temperatures in the area started out in the low 90’s and were in the low 100’s as we headed back home. The humidity was oppressive. Skies were blue with a few high clouds. We drove most of the scenic route except for the one road that leads east to Lot F and near the berm for the Sacramento Deep Water Shipping Channel. Our furthest point was to the southeast at Lot G.
Great white egrets were everywhere and everywhere there was water. At the start, we moved west to east through the young rice fields. We love the intense green of young rice in the bright sunlight. Here and there small irrigations streams criss-crossed the fields and the egrets were found there a lot. We also saw quite a few great blue herons everywhere (when there was water), and one or two snowy egrets, too. We saw one ibis on the ground, but several flocks in the sky. A distant flock of white pelicans also was observed.
Early in the loop, we moved west to east along the irrigation canal next to the road. There was water in the canal, but did not appear to be flowing. The surface was partially covered here and there by plant growth. In one clear water area we watched a school of a few hundred small, dark fish near the surface. The school would expand and contract, then flow one way, or the other. It looked like it was occasionally being spooked by something unforeseen beneath them. Dragonflies were all around this area.
One of the common yellow “crop duster” ag planes went back and forth, north and south, the entire time we were there. Funny…it wasn’t “dusting” or spreading seeds, or anything noticeable. Maybe it was mapping?
On our way out, on that final winding road through the (now bone dry) wetlands, we ran into 2 or 3 raptor kettles. Photos revealed mostly Swainson’s hawks, some red-tailed, and a couple of turkey vultures. Some were so stratospheric they were impossible to ID or photograph.
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Read More2022 08-02 Yolo ByPass
Air temperatures in the area started out in the low 90’s and were in the low 100’s as we headed back home. The humidity was oppressive. Skies were blue with a few high clouds. We drove most of the scenic route except for the one road that leads east to Lot F and near the berm for the Sacramento Deep Water Shipping Channel. Our furthest point was to the southeast at Lot G.
Great white egrets were everywhere and everywhere there was water. At the start, we moved west to east through the young rice fields. We love the intense green of young rice in the bright sunlight. Here and there small irrigations streams criss-crossed the fields and the egrets were found there a lot. We also saw quite a few great blue herons everywhere (when there was water), and one or two snowy egrets, too. We saw one ibis on the ground, but several flocks in the sky. A distant flock of white pelicans also was observed.
Early in the loop, we moved west to east along the irrigation canal next to the road. There was water in the canal, but did not appear to be flowing. The surface was partially covered here and there by plant growth. In one clear water area we watched a school of a few hundred small, dark fish near the surface. The school would expand and contract, then flow one way, or the other. It looked like it was occasionally being spooked by something unforeseen beneath them. Dragonflies were all around this area.
One of the common yellow “crop duster” ag planes went back and forth, north and south, the entire time we were there. Funny…it wasn’t “dusting” or spreading seeds, or anything noticeable. Maybe it was mapping?
On our way out, on that final winding road through the (now bone dry) wetlands, we ran into 2 or 3 raptor kettles. Photos revealed mostly Swainson’s hawks, some red-tailed, and a couple of turkey vultures. Some were so stratospheric they were impossible to ID or photograph.
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