As we watched, the eagle flew from her perch and cruised the ponds, causing coots and ducks to take wing in a panic to stay far away from the eagle’s sights.  We didn’t see the eagle catch anything but she circled the wide pond area and landed in a tree on the far side of the pond. It sure seemed like she was looking for breakfast.

We headed out to our cameras and found the roadways and surrounding landscape were green even with the winter dieback of all the understory vegetation in the oak forests that includes blackberries, poison oak and viney wild grapes. Spring will bring back the lush cover that forest birds and mammals use for shelter and for food.

Sparse winter foliage cover can be better for spotting wildlife as we make our way on foot into some of the more remote cameras. We again saw lots of deer tracks and there were some good camera captures of deer moving around the camera we have on that telephone pole that’s being used by bucks for an antler rub. One of the does was caught sniffing the pole, no doubt gathering information on ‘boys’ in the neighborhood – the bucks who pass by!

 

One crew member also spotted some wild asparagus growing right up out of the oak leaf duff in an open area next to the slough where one of our cameras is deployed! It was just the two stalks of green growing straight and tall in the sunlight with no other stalks to be seen. Not quite enough to fill the pot but it was good to see those stalks peeking up there. How did that asparagus come to be there at the edge of the Tall Forest?

Our cameras are mostly facing north and northwest so as to get the least amount of direct sunlight to avoid glare and washout. Today was a particularly bright day, maybe because of the clear air from windy days we’ve had recently or refraction from moisture or dust particles? And on bright days like this when the sun slices through the bare branches and open spaces that would have denser understory cover in other parts of the year, it’s extra important to have your trail camera positioned properly to get the best and clearest images of passing wildlife. Our crew commented on this as we donned our sunglasses and hats!

 

The crew checking the Outer route took a gander at the low flow dam, our gauge for how the river runs, and, not surprisingly, they found that big old snag still resting comfortably right there in the middle of the low flow. The snag itself is formidable and one of our crew again posed for a ‘scale’ shot. The good news is it is again a wildlife corridor, a bridge across the Cosumnes for as long as the water level stays below the low flow.

Coming back along one of the roadways, a crew member spotted a coyote who was peeking out, well-camouflaged behind some dead, standing vegetation in a field, watching us. We stopped to observe him and he watched us a moment longer before turning to walk over a hedgerow and out of sight into another field. But it was pretty amazing to see how this coyote blended in with the landscape. Coyotes are not only intelligent, they’re superbly adapted to fit in just about anywhere! We’d have missed him completely if not for our crew member’s eagle eyes!

We also saw a lot of raptors out today, which is very good news and may be a harbinger of an exciting spring! In addition to the Bald eagle, we saw and heard red-shouldered hawks, several black-shouldered kites, an American kestrel and several pairs of red tailed hawks calling as they circled in the sky – maybe an adult showing a juvenile the hunting ropes?

Coming back along the muddy bank of a slough we saw a lot of great tracks, mostly raccoon and Great blue heron. Take a look at the photo below. Who do you think came along first, the raccoon or the heron?

Here’s a fun ‘mystery photo’! Our job of interpreting the photos is a serious one and we look at every photo carefully. No guessing or assumptions – we have to know what we’re looking at! That includes the edges of the photos and the shadows and branches that create the visual patterns where a mountain lion or other mammal could be standing or moving by. Here, we did some inspecting to see just what we were looking at. What mammal do you see in this image? Look further below for the answer!

We also came across some pretty hefty owl pellets just under a Preserve sign post. It may be that a Great-horned owl is using the sign as a perch and regurgitating pellets of undigested bone, feathers, insect carapace and fur from previous meals before going off to hunt again. Owl pellets look different from scat because they’re generally grey and felty, oblong in shape and can be easily broken apart to reveal bones – mouse and gopher jaws are a common sighting!