Tag: food

Anxious Chicks Await Breakfast

Searching for Food

After leaving Fair Oaks Bridge Wednesday morning, I stopped to watch this very determined mother hen find food. Her chicks watch with great interest. Listen closely to their high pitched “peeps.” Eventually she and her chicks moved up the hill into the shrubs, not finding anything to eat after so much effort. Fair Oaks chickens wander the village, parks, side streets and fly into trees on both sides of the river. Their morning song carries through the air beginning long before I arrive at 630 am.

 

The Next Day Mother Hen Sits

After giving away all the bread, my daughter and I leave the boat launch ramp and cross the bridge to return home. I show her the place where the mother hen was searching the day before.  We see her on the other side of the street sitting quietly in the dirt. We stand and watch several minutes wondering Why is she so still, not making a sound. Is she injured? When will she move?  Then she spreads her feathers and rises up. We see four baby chicks run out from underneath and follow their mother as she climbs up the side of the hill.

“She was keeping her babies warm! Being a good mom!”

Where is the Food?

Monday, May 8, late afternoon ride on the Parkway

I pass by two ducks on a walk for food during a short bike ride on the American River Parkway. They stop to investigate what morsels they find in the dirt. Finding nothing, they cross the path.  I continue to monitor the river to see what waterfowl have returned. The river is still too deep and the search for food remains a challenge.

ducks, American River Parkway, bike path, food, walk
Walking for food on a sunny afternoon
ducks, food, walk, American River Parkway, bike path
Wandering across the bike path

Everyone Waits for Salmon to Arrive

Wednesday, October 31, 2018   730 am, 44 degree

            I opened my front door to see the end of the brilliant pink strips of sunrise just before they faded to gray. By the time I reached Fair Oaks Bridge, bright white and scattered clouds showed no sign of the intense colors they held only moments before. The sun was already shining yellow over the horizon.  Today the chilly air feels heavy with moisture.

Today is the final day of fishing in this part of the American River for the rest of the year. I saw so no one catch salmon and missed their leaps high enough out of the water to be seen. I missed seeing their struggles to set themselves free – seeing only a few random splashes instead.

Other bridge visitors told me that salmon were swimming out in the river, but more of them had already reached the weir at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. I will be looking for leaping salmon at “the narrows,” passage upriver in November during the heaviest part of the fall run.

Fair Oaks Bridge, Fair Oaks, American River, mornings, river, wildlife, water, ducks, fishermen, boats,
On this last day of fishing for 2018, this fishermen sits in one of a dozen boats lining the American River and around the bend. Ducks swim peacefully through the still water, reflecting the Fair Oaks Bridge.
clouds, American River, mornings, sky
Feather arrow clouds extend across the sky

           

 

I am surprised there is still no scent of decaying salmon. Nearly 100 seagulls gather and wait in the American River and on the sandbar a mile east of Fair Oaks Bridge. I watch and wonder when will the salmon show themselves?

seagulls, American River, salmon, mornings, Fair Oaks, food, Chinook salmon, salmon
Hungry seagulls wait for salmon to arrive
Great Blue Heron, American River, water, mornings, Fair Oaks Bridge, boat luanch ramp, study
Great Blue Heron studies the river