0562

On the way up to the top (where we started the hike from on the King Ranch), I took this photo of the clouds out the window of my vehicle while our docent leading the guided hike, (naturalist Jim Walsh), locked the gate behind us.

King-Swett Ranches
Solano Land Trust
(aka Sky Valley-Cordelia Hills Open Space)
11-03-12

© All Rights Reserved

0563

On the way up, we all stopped our vehicles to look at this Golden Eagle! I was too far away to get a decent shot, but took a photo anyway. This is a crop of the next photo which was taken at 200mm. If you want to get bird photos there, I would reccommend a 600mm lens and a teleconverter if you have them. Make sure to bring binoculars! I took seeing a Golden Eagle on the way up before we even started the hike as a good sign and it was! We ended up seeing lots of raptors. And when we were on our way back to our vehicles at the end of our hike, we even saw a Burrowing Owl! We saw so many birds, a deer, lizards, a tree frog, lots of butterlies and dragonflies, tons of grasshoppers and other insects too. I only had my 18-200mm and macro lens with me, so I couldn't get any bird shots, but was able to get some close-up shots of a tree frog and lizard, so I was happy about that. Jim thought we may see a coyote, but we didn't.

King-Swett Ranches
Solano Land Trust
(aka Sky Valley-Cordelia Hills Open Space)
11-03-12

© All Rights Reserved

0563

This is the Golden Eagle at 200mm before I cropped it.

King-Swett Ranches
Solano Land Trust
(aka Sky Valley-Cordelia Hills Open Space)
11-03-12

© All Rights Reserved

0566

There were only 3 of us today! This is a photo of Jim and the other hiker besides myself looking down at the property. (Sometimes there are large groups of 30 or so people, so this was like our own private hike). =)

King-Swett Ranches
Solano Land Trust
(aka Sky Valley-Cordelia Hills Open Space)
11-03-12

© All Rights Reserved

0568

King-Swett Ranches
Solano Land Trust
(aka Sky Valley-Cordelia Hills Open Space)
11-03-12

© All Rights Reserved