Photos during Earth Day week at Sutters Landing Park by Robert

                                         Though they spend much time on the ground, they are strong flyers. A week ago as I walked along the upper levee road, I paused to take in the sounds of a flock of them calling / communicating in a river bank tree. A couple of others also stopped to listen in.

Being ground nesters that have to be good in the use of camouflage. As a person approached this bird, it simply positioned itself between two dry plants, crouched down and froze in place. When he passed it resumed feeding.

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Osprey fishing at Sutters Landing Park, Feb. 2nd morning. This was my first sighting of osprey fishing this lower part of the American River. NOTE: Robert has some great mushroom photos too & they are posted separately...

I first saw two Ospreys fly down river this morning

Later this one returned

Several low passes back and forth above the river

My first sighting with a catch

Not until I enlarged the photos did I realize it had two fish!

Where to perch now?

saw it finally head up to the protected area of the mound, there one fish was dropped to the ground, out of my sight. Obviously it could not land to feed until one talon was freed. Lucky for it no gulls where around.

Just east of the former landfill at Sutter's Landing Park there is a triangular parcel wedged between the freeway, river, and RR tracks. This location is intended to be where the city will do a mitigation replanting project to compensate for the recent nearby removal of a stand of trees. The city owns a portion of the parcel now and the RR owns the rest.

This week, I noticed some newly cut trees at the site as well as some bright pink staking. I inquired to find out if the mitigation project was starting up and to find out more about the vegetation removal done.  It turns out that the city has put staking in place recently to identify the limits for the upcoming planting. That work did not include any vegetation removal. After more inquiries, it was learned that a company that leases some the land from the RR for a large billboard was recently onsite & removed some "volunteer" growth. 

I hiked out to this corner of the property today and found that the vegetation removed included some mature elderberry shrubs and other cover that provides some of the best habitat on the parcel currently. The city indicated they have no control of the area in question and have no plans to plant any new vegetation there. It does seem that the owner and leasee would need a permit from the city for the billboard and there is certainly a need to protect elderberry habitat which may host the federally endangered valley elderberry longhorn beetle as well as provide good habitat in an area where there is the primary goal. Clearly, more thought and follow-up is needed...

Recently cut elderberry have been present for years at this location

Looking across cut elderberry towards the area to be planted by the city

Meanwhile, on the other side of the former landfill, a lone elderberry remains after a project recently removed all the stockpiled soil and graded the area bare. Previously, vegetation there provided cover for foraging and movement along this side of the river. Future habitat restoration is needed here too.

by Dale

It is obvious to anyone who spends much time on the bike trail or other parts of the parkway that fires have increased and are causing the loss of many mature cottonwoods and other important vegetation. There are several extensive burned areas at Sutter's Landing Park and in many other areas along the river. This needs attention and questions are being raised including a proposal to start a task force to work on the problem. A secondary question has come up about whether or not the extensive stands of wild grape could contribute to the intensity of these fires or cause other losses to cottonwoods and other vegetation sometimes heavily covered by this native species known to be important for wildlife in the area.

I made an informal review of wild grape cover along the American River and nearby section of the Sacramento River recently. Here are some preliminary thoughts and observations about whether these or other vines are causing habitat destruction along the river.  Wild grape along the river. 

We need to be able to gather more information on the causes and solutions for the increase fires along the river. This would also be an opportunity to learn more about the role wild grape may play in and around these burned areas as well as other areas along the parkway. We can all pay more attention to these questions and look for solutions too.

The 6th annual FORB gathering had some 50+ folks come out for a beautiful crisp New Year's Day morning. We enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones while we warmed up with hot beverages and oatmeal cookies. The nature walk along the river was fun and gave as all a good reminder of what a special place this is to have in our neighborhood. Some notes and photos were posted at the new twitter account (@FORB2013). Here are a few more from Robert Sewell. He reported seeing "about six Western Blue Birds feeding near the river, along with several Yellow-rumped Warblers and a male  Northern red-shafted flicker carving out a nest cavity in clear sight of the lower river road. We’ll watch to see if it will actually nest here this summer. Most of them migrate up to the mountain in the spring".

Welcome to 2013! It seems like FORB could use a new tool or two to help share information. FORB now has a twitter account, @FORB2013, where we can send and receive real time input from those interested in our surroundings at Sutter's Landing Park. Among other things, anyone with a smartphone can now post a wildlife observation or other information by sending a brief tweet to this account. This can include a photo, short video clip, or web link for more details too. There is also a temporary email account, aplodontia@mac.com, which will be used to monitor FORB and Sutter's Landing Information until a more permanent address is created. 

Anyone interested can follow FORB on twitter and receive news and information of interest that way too. It's likely we'll keep a running summary of this information available on the website in the near future too. 

OK, let's plan to tweet in the new year together tomorrow at the river. See you there!