Benicia - Matthew Turner Park - Benicia State Rec. Area - Dec. 21, '10

Walking Distance: 2.8 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 35 min. (12:53 - 2:28 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot in Matthew Turner Park, Benicia, CA

I photographed birds first in goose-friendly Matthew Turner Park. Although the geese must have their detractors. One probably placed the "statue" of the crouching wolf nearby. The geese were giving him a wide berth.

I then walked West on K Street. At the point where K Street and Military W. crossed, there was a frontage road (Dillon Pt. Rd./near Highway 780) that led into Benicia State Recreation Area. Nice, side-by-side bicycle and pedestrian paved paths were a luxury and allowed me to stop, photograph and gawk at some hawks and other critters, without worrying about annoying bicyclists. I tried walking closer to the water, but parts of this muddy trail were flooded due to recent rains and high tide today.

There were lots of ground squirrels out today "mowing" the grass -- nibbling on bright green shoots starting to appear.

Wildlife:
13 Geese (1 Canada goose, 3 all white geese; 9 white-fronted geese; and 1 smaller goose w/ brown markings); 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 16 crows/ravens; 7 sea gulls (2 fighting over a piece of food mid-air -- that crow ended up getting when they dropped it); 102 ducks; 1 coot; 1 domestic cat; 12 snails (w/ darker bodies than most snails); 2 Great Egrets; 3 brown hawks; 1 jackrabbit eating green grass; 6 ground squirrels eating green grass.