I love Yolo Basin Wildlife Area. Only a 5-10 minute drive from Davis or a 20-30 minute bike ride. It is phenomenal. For more about it see the links below:
I drove over there there yesterday as a way of clearing my head after a bit of a rough day the day before. Drove around the gravel roads in the park for a bit and got out a few times to look around.
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| First sighting of something of interest – off in the distance |
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| A little far away for a good pic – but nice American Kestrel |
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| Kestrel again |
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| Some flowers out |
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| Ruddy duck just off the road |
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| Another ruddy duck |
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| A group of Northern shovelers |
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| More Northern Shovelers |
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| Northern Pintails |
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| Northern Pintails |
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| Northern Pintails |
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| Northern Harrier (a lot of Northern things I guess) |
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| Coots (they are everywhere in the park) |
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| Northern shoveler |
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| More pintails |
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| Kingfisher off in the distance |
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| Forster’s tern (I think) |
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And then the best moment – there in front of me, running across the road – river otters. They
caught me by surprise but I got this pic through my windshield. Six of them in total. |
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I went to where they crossed and looked around for 3-4 minutes
and saw nothing. As I was getting ready to go I saw
some rippling in the water. And then .. |
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| One crossed the road. |
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| And off to the other side. |
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| There was a little trail of water in the road. |
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| And then another crossed. |
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| And another |
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| And off into the bushes to the water. |
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| And they then hung out clicking at each other and maybe at me. |
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| They had left a little gift by the side of the road. |
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| I kept watching |
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And then I realized maybe they were waiting for the other three. So
I backed away and looked across in the water on the other side and there they were. |
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Overall a good day at the Basin.
Jonathan Eisen's Lab 