bypass area birds

I’m lucky enough to live less than ten minutes away from a wildlife area. The Yolo Bypass area is literally just a few miles away from my house. Most people pass it every day without even realizing it. It’s a good place to go bird watching, especially in the fall. I had the day off, so I decided to head out there in the morning before packing for my trip out to Mount Whitney.

The wildlife area sits right in between Davis and Sac. In fact you can see that downtown Sacramento isn’t all that far away.

There are tons of birds in the wildlife area. I’m always amazed how these birds could fly so close together without bumping into each other.

This is a blue wing teal, which I think is also the same species in the massive flock picture.

They scare easily– I can’t even get within 50 feet of them.

A great egret. There are a few of these chilling alone at random spots throughout the wildlife area.

Great egret in air.

A common sandpiper.

It’s fun driving out on the dirt/gravel roads out there. I was kind of tempted to step on the gas pedal and drift through these curves… too bad the speed limit’s only 15 mph. That’s probably a good thing though– I’d probably end up drifting right into the water.

That’s it for today. It’s currently hunting season, so only the area within the dashed red line is open to the general public. I’ll probably come back and explore more when hunting season is over.

Things I’m thankful for:

• seeing birds in flight
• telephoto lenses