Go. See. Do. Riverside and Beyond
The first sunrise of 2017. The view from Lake Mathews in Riverside, California.
A seemingly fat and happy hawk overlooking “A” Street / Citrus Heights Drive in Riverside, California.
A millipede crossing “A” Street / Citrus Heights Drive in Riverside, California.
Hope everyone has a great 2017.
I have lived in Riverside for thirteen years, and have never visited Fairmount Park in Riverside, California.
This past weekend after I dropped my oldest son off to take the SAT, I decided to take a walk around the park. Here are a few pictures:
For a minute, I thought this Greylag Goose was going to charge me. He decided to pose instead.
A bunch of coots.
These Muscovy ducks seemed to be talking to each other.
I didn’t walk near the tank on this visit, but I was very curious about its background. I found a page on the City’s website that provides a little bit of the history. Here is a summary:
The tank is a light amphibious tracked vehicle called the LVT (Landing Vehicle, Tracked). The LVTs were produced here in Riverside during World War II by the FMC Corporation. The same company also retrofitted these vehicles for use in the Korean War. The LVT was also known as the Water Buffalo.
“In 1949 a monument, complete with LVT, was dedicated to the factory war workers at Fairmount Park near the location where they had conducted testing.”
Canadian geese.
Not being a bird expert, I had no idea what kind of bright white bird flew over my truck a few days ago. After realizing it was hanging around a local storm basin that I drive past almost every day, I decided to try to get some pictures.
After a few tries, I got some marginally decent pictures. I also consulted Google and found out that this bird is a Snowy Egret.
The following quotes are from AllAboutBirds.org:
“Among the most elegant of the herons, the slender Snowy Egret sets off immaculate white plumage with black legs and brilliant yellow feet. Those feet seem to play a role in stirring up or herding small aquatic animals as the egret forages.”
“Snowy Egrets wade in shallow water to spear fish and other small aquatic animals.”
Ever since we saw the bald eagles at Lake Mathews, my wife and I have been noticing birds. Here are some recent pictures of a few birds near Lake Mathews in Riverside…
Saw this today in Riverside.
Sorry, Mr. Lizard.
My wife has a knack for spotting interesting birds.
In addition to the bald eagles she found a few months ago, she has spotted a tagged turkey vulture and an osprey while driving over the Lake Mathews dam.
I had a camera with me yesterday when she pointed out some birds, so we stopped to take a few pictures. We aren’t bird experts, so please let me if I found the wrong names on the Internet.
Female Belted Kingfisher:
Male Red-winged Blackbirds:
I took the pictures above with a point and shoot camera. Unfortunately, I didn’t even have that with me when we saw an Osprey last December.
Driving by Lake Mathews today, my wife yelled, “There they are!”
She was referring to the bald eagles we have heard about that nest at Lake Mathews during the winter. Here is the iPhone picture I snapped when we pulled over:
We immediately turned around and headed home to grab our cameras. When we returned, we were fortunate that this beautiful bald eagle was still hanging around enjoying a meal:
Just as I was walking along the roadway to try a different vantage point, the eagle flew away…
Fortunately, the eagle landed on the Cajalco side of the dam. Although we couldn’t get close enough to get great pictures, we still managed to get a few that were decent enough to post:
Seeing our national emblem out in the wild was such a great experience.
“The Congress finds as follows: (1) The bald eagle was designated as the national emblem of the United States on June 20, 1782, by our country’s Founding Fathers at the Second Continental Congress. – From the American Bald Eagle Recovery and National Emblem Commemorative Coin Act
A few facts from The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:
Distinguished by a white head and white tail feathers, bald eagles are powerful, brown birds that may weigh 14 pounds and have a wingspan of 8 feet. Male eagles are smaller, weighing as much as 10 pounds and have a wingspan of 6 feet. […]
Eagles mate for life, choosing the tops of large trees to build nests, which they typically use and enlarge each year. Nests may reach 10 feet across and weigh a half ton. They may also have one or more alternate nests within their breeding territory. […]
Bald Eagles may live 15 to 25 years in the wild, longer in captivity.
After watching this beautiful creature for a few moments, it flew away.
We saw these turkey vultures flying over Lake Mathews Dam a few days ago. My wife had her camera with her so we decided to stop and take a few pictures.
We were curious about the bird with the wing tag so I consulted google and found a conservation site that had pictures of other turkey vultures tagged with white wing tags. I eventually found out that this bird was tagged in the summer of 2009 either at Irvine Lake in Orange County or at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area.
I also found a site operated by the U.S. Geological Survey that lets you report sightings of tagged birds. So if you see a tagged bird, visit www.reportband.gov/.