2022 09-29 Yolo ByPass
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I got to the bypass at 10:30. The roads were clear with hardly a soul around. It was a bright and sunny day. Air temperature was 73. The rice fields are bright yellow not at all like the green that has been with us most of the summer.
Heading east on the first road towards the city I shot a great blue heron out the passenger window. Three turkey vultures soared overhead. The field on the south side of the road was flooded with a few inches of water and had a lot of ibis in there with too much glare to photograph. At the turn around I found three snowy egrets and one of them posed quite nicely for some head shots. I also photographed an ibis and egret sitting in the water preening just an inch apart from each other. This whole area might have good photographic possibilities in the afternoon light, it sure is strongly backlit in the morning. NOTE: you could see a hazy Diablo in the distance. On the way back out, the same great blue heron was in the canal and posed some portraits. Nearby, a huge shallow flooded field revealed thousands more ibis.
Further down the road to the south a larger great blue heron was standing tall on the top of the canal levee for some portraits. I should’ve stayed with it longer though. Just as I put my camera down and give a big wide-mouth yawn…would’ve been interesting.
As I drove over the bridge to parking lots EF and GH a cormorant that frequently sits on the pole was still there and it was joined by two more, one of which was sitting on the wire for a nice shot. I stopped and ended up photographing all three of these cormorants… Great lighting!
I decided to head southwest towards parking lot E and G. There were several very shy great egrets on the embankment along the western edge of the main canal. Out of nowhere, I had a red-tailed hawk fly in front of the truck and then down my left side… I snapped a few quickies hoping the auto-focus would do its job. Lighting was poor.
In the dry open field to the west of the canal I saw the object which I thought might be a seated coyote. It turned out to be a very big great blue heron all by itself out there in the field.
There were several blackbird murmurations as I went through the area today, sadly nothing too close to the road. Two ring-necked pheasants caught the corner of my eye as they were flying low across the reeds away from the road. Right near the exit from the hunting area there was a beautiful juvenile red-tailed hawk on the telephone pole. It did not flush!
Note to self: the area I was just in the hunting area will be closed on September 1 and 2nd for dove hunters.
Departure time 12 noon-
Read MoreI got to the bypass at 10:30. The roads were clear with hardly a soul around. It was a bright and sunny day. Air temperature was 73. The rice fields are bright yellow not at all like the green that has been with us most of the summer.
Heading east on the first road towards the city I shot a great blue heron out the passenger window. Three turkey vultures soared overhead. The field on the south side of the road was flooded with a few inches of water and had a lot of ibis in there with too much glare to photograph. At the turn around I found three snowy egrets and one of them posed quite nicely for some head shots. I also photographed an ibis and egret sitting in the water preening just an inch apart from each other. This whole area might have good photographic possibilities in the afternoon light, it sure is strongly backlit in the morning. NOTE: you could see a hazy Diablo in the distance. On the way back out, the same great blue heron was in the canal and posed some portraits. Nearby, a huge shallow flooded field revealed thousands more ibis.
Further down the road to the south a larger great blue heron was standing tall on the top of the canal levee for some portraits. I should’ve stayed with it longer though. Just as I put my camera down and give a big wide-mouth yawn…would’ve been interesting.
As I drove over the bridge to parking lots EF and GH a cormorant that frequently sits on the pole was still there and it was joined by two more, one of which was sitting on the wire for a nice shot. I stopped and ended up photographing all three of these cormorants… Great lighting!
I decided to head southwest towards parking lot E and G. There were several very shy great egrets on the embankment along the western edge of the main canal. Out of nowhere, I had a red-tailed hawk fly in front of the truck and then down my left side… I snapped a few quickies hoping the auto-focus would do its job. Lighting was poor.
In the dry open field to the west of the canal I saw the object which I thought might be a seated coyote. It turned out to be a very big great blue heron all by itself out there in the field.
There were several blackbird murmurations as I went through the area today, sadly nothing too close to the road. Two ring-necked pheasants caught the corner of my eye as they were flying low across the reeds away from the road. Right near the exit from the hunting area there was a beautiful juvenile red-tailed hawk on the telephone pole. It did not flush!
Note to self: the area I was just in the hunting area will be closed on September 1 and 2nd for dove hunters.
Departure time 12 noon-
