Snowy egret along the American River, Sacramento, California

 Rick got these images of snowy egrets, possibly the same one, but in different spots, while we were pedaling in Bob's new-to-him Hobie Mirage tandem kayak.

Snowy egrets are smaller than great egrets and have distinctive yellow feet.  Because they are wading birds, it's not always possible to see their feet.  Also has what can look like a little yellow mask over its eyes.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Red-eared slider, turtle basking on a log in the American River

 

In the Sacramento area, we love visiting the American River that flows right through the city and joins the Sacramento River just north of the historic Old Sacramento. It's amazing how much wildlife we see inside the city limits. Here we saw turtles that are not native to California, the red-eared slider. A group of the turtles were basking on a log as we were canoeing nearby. The turtles noticed us and were acting a little more alert as we got the cameras out.

Canon PowerShot 530HS, ISO 400, 215mm focal length, 1/250 sec, f8

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Female common mergansers resting on a log, American River Parkway, Sacramento, California

We were out paddling around the American River Parkway in Sacramento, California when we encountered these female common mergansers resting on this log that had fallen across this channel.  This is just downstream from the Watt Avenue Bridge.

The merganser in the middle had its mouth open, while the merganser on the right was giving us the eye while trying to get some sleep.  Mergansers are also known as fish ducks, since they feed on small fish by diving underwater and swimming after their prey.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

A white black phoebe along the American River Parkway, Sacramento, California

I, Bob, have observed this black phoebe in white plumage for the last couple of months, but today I managed to get my closest and longest look at it.  Black phoebes are normally all black, except for a white belly, but this one is almost all white with a little bit of cream coloring.  Black phoebes are members of the flycatcher family and feed on flying insects by waiting on a perch and then darting out after an insect flying by.

This phoebe's territory seems to be around a drainage pump assemblage about a half mile upriver from the Watt Avenue Bridge along the American River's south side in Sacramento, California.

This photo was taken with a Canon EOS 6D Mark II full frame DSLR with a 100-400 mm zoom lens set on 400 and the resulting photo was heavily cropped to get this final result.

For comparison, I've posted below my heavily cropped photo from the same day of a normal black phoebe, also along the American River.

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Red-shouldered Hawk in the American River Parkway, Sacramento, California

I, Bob, photographed this red-shouldered hawk perched in a tree along the American River in Sacramento, California.  The red shoulder patches that give it its name are not visible from this angle.  This guy stayed perched on this spot for a long time allowing me to try shots from different angles and from progressively closer distances, until I was able to get this shot from my closest approach.  This picture was taken in December, so the tree had shed its leaves for the season and made it easier to see him on his perch.  Not long after this shot, the hawk flew to another nearby perch.  I went looking for him again and realized that I had gone past him and turned around to get more pictures.  Apparently this hawk had had enough of me by then and soon flew almost at me missing me by just a few feet just right of overhead and continued on to another tree perch.

Red-shouldered hawks live mainly along riverside forests and other moist deciduous forests and hunt from perches like in this photo.

I took this photo with a Canon EOS 70D with a Canon 100-400 mm lens.

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Robinson Twins - American River Parkway

Our first recreational video, The American River Parkway, was video-recorded in 1999 and released in 2000. This part of Sacramento is our home turf, so to speak, so we wanted to make it first. We went to college by walking along the American River, we've biked the parkway's length several times, go jogging along it, and have paddled most of it. For the video, we also flew over it in a small airplane. We hope you enjoy the adventure that's within easy reach of hundreds of thousands of people in Sacramento County, California. Here's the link to our video: https://youtu.be/gmbOhAckfc8

The picture is from our airplane flight and shows Discovery Park and the confluence where the cleaner American River joins the muddier Sacramento River. The closer bridge is Jibboom Street while the larger bridge is Interstate-5. Old Sacramento State Historic Park is nearby to the right of this photo (not shown).

Remember, it's not just a picture (video), it's a story!