Sacramento Splash, 4426 Excelsior Road, Mather, CA (2026)

06/24/2026

Welcome to Wildlife Wednesday! I’m so easily distracted. I’m sitting here at my desk trying to get my work done for Splash, but I have a big window just to my right that looks out over our beautiful backyard. As I was trying to focus on my work, I was just distracted by two squirrels jumping from tree to tree playing with each other. Yes, just like Dug, the talking dog in the movie “Up,” I too am distracted by squirrels. However, today, I’m going to embrace my distraction! So, today’s Wildlife Wednesday is now about SQUIRRELS!

Three squirrel species are commonly seen in the Sacramento region; two of them are native to CA and one of them is non-native. We won’t go in-depth about the natural history of each species here; however, let’s discover how we can identify these three squirrels and tell them apart. Think of this as Sacramento Squirrels 101.

Let me start by saying that all three species are pretty similar in size. I won’t give you a bunch of numbers and precise measurements because I don’t want you to accuse me of “critter-sizing” the squirrels.

Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger): The amusing backyard antics that distracted me from my work were performed by two Eastern Fox Squirrels. They’re the non-native species of squirrel in our area. Overall, they appear rustier in color than the other squirrels of our area. They have mostly dark gray fur on the back and rusty-orange colored fur on the sides and belly. The tail and face have lots of that rusty coloration as well. They have a moderately bushy tail. Around 1900, Eastern Fox Squirrels were first introduced to California from the eastern states. Since then, they’ve greatly expanded their range throughout the state, primarily in more populated urban areas. One reason they’re so successful and expanding their population is they have two litters of young per year, compared with only one litter per year for the other squirrels that are native to our region. The Eastern Fox Squirrels are quite tolerant of areas populated by humans, often living around parks and suburbs. They’re extremely adaptable and have a very diverse diet.

Western Gray Squirrel (Sciurus griseus): Native Western Gray Squirrels are found throughout much of California, primarily in riparian forests, oak woodlands, and oak/pine forests. The Western Grays have light gray fur above with a pure white underside. Its face is uniformly gray, and the ears are a little larger than those of the other squirrels in our area. Their most distinctive feature is their luxuriously long and bushy gray tail that’s slightly frosted with white. The tail is as long as (or slightly longer than) the rest of its body! Western Grays are woodland critters and are less common in urban areas, whereas Eastern Fox Squirrels have adapted quite nicely to living in areas populated by lots of people. To find their food, which is essentially limited to acorns, pine nuts, and fungi, Western Grays depend on large areas of mature oak and pine forest. Due to urbanization and major wildfires, our forests have become much more fragmented. As a result, Western Grays have less suitable habitat, and their populations have declined.

California Ground Squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi): CA Ground Squirrels are common and easily observed in our region. Their fur contains a mixture of gray, light brown, and dusky hairs on top and the underside is lighter, buff, or grayish yellow. The tail is quite bushy for a ground squirrel; however, it’s not nearly as long and bushy as the other two squirrels we’ve met. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the CA Ground Squirrel is the whitish fur on the back of the neck and shoulders, contrasting with the darker fur on the back. California Ground Squirrels live in open areas, including farmlands, fields, chaparral, pastures, grasslands, and roadsides. They primarily reside on the ground and dig elaborate burrow systems. Although they might form small colonies, the males are often territorial and viciously fight with other males, leaving some nasty scars. Hey! Perhaps these quarrels among squirrels could be called “Squarrels!” I know, that was acorny pun.

There’s one more species I should briefly mention. To further confuse matters, Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) were also introduced from the eastern states into Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in the early 1900s and are now found in parts of the Bay Area, as well as Calaveras and San Joaquin Counties and they might be expanding their range. Although they’ve been observed in Sacramento County, they aren’t nearly as common as the other three squirrel species we’ve met today. Eastern Grays look very similar to Western Grays but are about 20% smaller, have a narrower tail, shorter ears, and a faint rusty coloration on the face and sides. Like the Eastern Fox Squirrels, the Eastern Grays prefer to hang out in more urban areas.

Well, we hope your still bright-eyed and bushy tailed after reading this! And we hope that now you’re nuts for squirrels too! Are you ready to go out on a limb and take the Sacramento Squirrel ID Challenge? Just click through the 8 photos attached to this post and see if you can correctly identify the species based on the knowledge you’ve squirreled away from reading Wildlife Wednesday!

06/21/2026

Happy Father’s Day to Sacramento’s most dedicated dads and happy Summer Solstice to the longest day of the year. Today belongs to both. 🪿☀️

You know them. You have seen them. Waddling across parking lots and out in city creeks. Escorting across the American River Parkway. Absolutely losing their minds at anyone who gets within ten feet of their family at Elk Grove Park.

The Canada Goose dad. Sacramento’s most present, most protective, most dramatically devoted father in the animal kingdom. And he is EVERYWHERE right now.

Here are the facts: He mates for life. He vigorously defends his goslings for up to 12 weeks. He will charge, hiss, and honk at anything that comes near his family, , , — zero hesitation. And are one of the only species on that will readily adopt goslings that are not their own.

To every dad and father figure who shows up, stays close, and honks loudly when necessary; Happy Father’s Day from Sacramento Splash. 🪿🌿

Have you spotted a Canada Goose dad and his family this week? Drop your sighting in the comments.

06/18/2026

Summer solstice is almost here. And it is way more extraordinary than you think. ☀️🌿

June 21st is the longest day of the year, the moment the Earth’s tilt brings Sacramento its maximum daylight. Over 14 hours of sun. The absolute peak of summer. And honestly one of our favorite days of the year at Sacramento Splash.

Here are three ways to celebrate it with your kids this weekend:

🌿 Chase the golden hour. Sunset on solstice day is later than almost any other day of the year. Head to a park, a trail, or your own backyard and watch it happen. William Land Park. The American River Parkway. Mather Field. Pick one and stay until the very last light.

🌿 Track your shadow. At solar noon on June 21st your shadow is at its shortest of the entire year. Go outside at noon, mark where your shadow falls, and check it again in a month. Science happening in real time right in your driveway.

🌿 Stay outside one hour longer than usual. That is it. That is the whole activity. The solstice is nature’s invitation to be outside longer than any other day. Accept it.

The natural world is doing something extraordinary on Saturday. Sacramento Splash thinks you should be outside for it. 🌿

→ Stay tuned — we have something special planned for solstice day.

06/17/2026

Welcome to Wildlife Wednesday, your weekly opportunity to meet one of our local critter neighbors, right here in the Sacramento region!

Here kitty, kitty, kitty! Today’s featured creature is the Bobcat! Bobcats are relatively common and live across the contiguous United States and south into Mexico. Yet, most people have never seen one because these beautiful creatures are quite shy and rarely reveal themselves to humans.

We typically think of Bobcats as living in wild and remote areas; however, most people don’t realize that they’re found on the outskirts of urban areas as well. Bobcats are periodically sighted right along the American River Parkway in Sacramento, as well as some East Sacramento neighborhoods, and in Folsom, Lincoln, and Rocklin!

The Bobcat’s scientific name is Lynx rufous. There are only 4 members of this genus in the world, including the Canada Lynx, Eurasian Lynx, and the Iberian Lynx. So, the missing lynx is the Bobcat!

Bobcats are sometimes misidentified as Canada Lynx, their larger, more northern cousin; however, there are a few easy ways to tell them apart. Bobcats have much shorter tufts of hair at the tips of their ears. Bobcats don’t sport the super-shaggy facial ruff worn by the Canada Lynx. Bobcats have shorter legs and WAY smaller feet than a Canada Lynx. Another distinguishing feature is the tip of a Bobcat’s tail is black on top and white underneath, whereas the tail of a Canada Lynx is entirely black at the tip. Perhaps the biggest distinction is that the Canada Lynx occurs north of the Canadian border, in the very northern part of some New England and Great Lakes states, and in the northern part of the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range. Bobcats, on the other hand, range across the entire lower 48 states. So, if you see something here in the Sacramento region that you think could be a Canada Lynx or a Bobcat, we guarantee that it’s a Bobcat!

Have you ever heard of a Blynx? Believe it or not, in the limited areas where the ranges of Bobcat and Canada Lynx overlap, they will hybridize! In 2003, scientists confirmed that the first Blynx hybrid was found. Later that same year, a female Blynx with kittens was spotted, proving that this hybrid can reproduce. The Blynx hybrid mostly has the build of a Bobcat, but with the longer ears of a Canada Lynx. They sometimes have spots like a Bobcat, or they can have a plainer coat, more like their Canada Lynx parent.

Bobcats are considerably smaller than most people think, only about twice the size of an average domestic cat! In our region, the average male Bobcat only weighs 21 pounds, while the females are even smaller, weighing an average of 15 pounds. They typically stand between 16 and 20 inches in height. As is the case with most wildlife species, Bobcats tend to be larger in the northern parts of their range. The largest, accurately measured, Bobcat on record weighed 49 pounds, although there have been unverified reports of Bobcats reaching 60 pounds!

Bobcats are members of the Felidae, or cat, family of mammals and, although they look like house cats in some respects, they’re much more powerful and athletic than their domestic cousins. These nimble wild cats can leap, sprint, climb, and even swim to get to their prey. They stealthily stalk their prey, inching as close as possible, and then they make a giant leap of up to 10 feet to pounce on the unfortunate menu item! Although a Bobcat’s superpower is its amazing leaping ability, it can also run up to 30 miles per hour over short distances, chasing down most prey! Preferred cuisine for a Bobcat includes small rodents, rabbits, squirrels, birds, lizards, snakes, and even domestic cats that are wandering outdoors.

Although Bobcats are very proficient hunters, there are some bigger animals that might want to hunt them. Mountain Lions, wolves, and bears are the main predators that pose a danger to Bobcats. Despite their relatively small size, adult Bobcats are fierce and will usually fight back when a larger carnivore tries to attack them or steal their prey. It’s the adorable Bobcat kittens that are more susceptible to predation, as they can easily be carried off by Coyotes, foxes, hawks, and owls.

To help deter predators, a Bobcat has “eyes” in the back of its head! Well, they’re not real eyes, they’re white eyespots on the back of the Bobcat’s ears. These false eyes help ward off predators that might be approaching the Bobcat from behind. A quick glimpse of those eyespots might lead the predator to think the Bobcat has already seen it!

So, why do Bobcats have a short tail? Nobody really knows for sure! Their wild cousin, the Mountain Lion, has a graceful, 3-foot-long tail, whereas a Bobcat’s stumpy little tail is between 4 and 7 inches in length. Mammologists speculate that long tails on cats are mostly used for balance when climbing trees or chasing prey at high speeds over long distances. Since Bobcats primarily hunt on the ground by leaping on their prey, they haven’t evolved with a long tail. Also, a long, twitching tail might alert prey or predator, of the Bobcat's presence.

Thanks for taking a big leap today and pouncing on the opportunity to meet the Bobcat! If you’d like to learn more about Bobcats, do an internet search and click on the resulting lynx!

Have YOU seen a bobcat before? Share your bobcat stories with us in the comments! See you next week!

06/16/2026

Water 💦 Day at YELC (Youth Environmental Leadership Camp) is hands down one of the campers best days at camp!

We start the day at the Department fish and wildlife at the nimbus Fish Hatchery learning about salmon, trout, and how to balance the needs of the fish. Thank you David for hosting us even though the Hatchery is closed.

We then head to Soil Born Farms to meet up with Sam Diaz from Verdantas to learn about creek and stream restoration! The kids use a physical model to design a creek to handle storm flows and how erosion works.

We then head to the Cordova Creek to see the actual creek that Sam restored. It's there we meet up with Stillwater Sciences and we test the creeks health through water quality monitoring and BMI sampling. We also net fish to see if we can catch critters to determine the waters quality. We noted the creek was very biodiverse and healthy!

We cap the day off with many of these campers first ever swim in the American River! It's a real joy for us to facilitate such a core memory for so many!

We miss our week 2 campers who are highlighted in this video! Till next time campers!

06/15/2026

No deer were harmed in the writing of this post. 🐦

Meet the , one of the most dramatic performers in ‘s . It nests on bare ground, camouflages its eggs as pebbles, and when a predator gets close? It fakes a broken wing, limps pitifully away from the nest, leads the threat on a wild chase, then stands up straight and flies off completely fine. Same con. Thousands of years. Still works every time. Our Splash field guides have stopped entire classes mid-trail just to watch a killdeer work its magic at Mather Field. And every single time…jaws drop. This is what Sacramento’s backyard looks like up close. 🐦 Have you ever spotted one? Drop a comment below.

06/11/2026

Splash’s note to self: never stop doing YELC. 🌿

Here’s why.

Every June 60 Sacramento kids spend a week fully immersed in the natural world and the careers that protect it. Daily field trips. Real scientists. Real businesses. Zero screens. Completely free for every single camper.

And then they write us notes like these.

YELC 2026 is now in full motion. And we are so excited!

06/10/2026

Thanks for joining us for another Wildlife Wednesday! ‘Tis the season! The breeding season that is. We’re smack dab in the middle of the busiest time of year for the birds in our region. The adults of most bird species in our area have been putting LOTS of energy into establishing and defending their breeding territories, building their nests, laying and incubating their eggs, and feeding their insatiable chicks. However, right here in the Sacramento region, we have a species of bird that’s a total slacker when it comes to parenting! Meet the Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, a chunky, little blackbird, about 7.5 inches long, with a fascinating, and somewhat sinister, approach to reproducing!

The adult male Brown-headed Cowbird has a glossy (in good light) black body and a brownish head. The female is slightly smaller than the male and is a light grayish-brown. Both sexes sport a stout, cone-shaped bill and a dark eye. They’re found across the United States and they range slightly north into Canada, preferring open habitats such as fields, pastures, meadows, forest edges, and lawns. However, they’re range used to be much more restricted.

Brown-headed Cowbirds used to only be found in the central plains of the United States and Canada, where they would follow bison herds across the prairies. As the bison moved from one area to the next, the cowbirds would follow, gleaning insects that were stirred up by thousands of moving hooves! The cowbirds also feasted on the many grass seeds they would encounter. As European settlers moved westward, cleared the land, and began raising cattle and other livestock, it dramatically increased the amount of suitable habitat for the Brown-headed Cowbirds and they have since expanded their range to cover the entire continent (except northern Canada and Alaska). Now they follow cows around (hence the name) and they’re often seen at suburban birdfeeders.

This behavior of following the herds across the prairies was ideal for the cowbirds to get food. However, since cowbirds were always on the move following the bison, they were never in one place long enough to establish a territory, build a nest, lay eggs, incubate the eggs, and care for helpless baby cowbirds when they hatched.

So, the Brown-headed Cowbird evolved with a unique adaptation to cope with this nomadic lifestyle. Cowbirds are known as brood parasites! They’ll lay their eggs in another bird’s nest and let the host bird raise the cowbird chick! But the female cowbird has to be sneaky about it! It will find a suitable host’s nest and observe the host bird. When the host bird is away from the nest, the female cowbird will sneak in and lay a single egg in the host bird’s nest before the rightful owner returns from its feeding foray.

Amazingly, female Brown-headed Cowbirds pop their eggs out really quickly to avoid being caught by the nest's host. On average, a female cowbird can lay an egg in only 41 seconds, compared to most other songbirds, which average between 20 minutes to just over 1.5 hours! The cowbird egg typically hatches before the host bird’s eggs do, giving the baby cowbird some time in the nest to be fed by its foster parents and grow a bit. By the time the host bird’s babies hatch, the cowbird chick is significantly larger and is a much more aggressive beggar when the host parents bring food back to the nest. This usually results in one or more of the host bird’s chicks starving to death or being pushed out of the nest by the larger cowbird chick.

Fledgling Brown-headed Cowbirds normally leave the nest 11 days after hatching and gain independence from their foster parents at about 30 days old. Interestingly, young Brown-headed Cowbirds know they’re cowbirds. Rather than seeking the company of the host species that raised it, or learning the host species’ song, young cowbirds eventually seek out a flock of other Brown-headed Cowbirds. Being a social species, cowbirds will often gather in massive flocks with other blackbird species and European Starlings, especially during the winter. Some of these big wintering flocks can number in the millions of birds!

Brown-headed Cowbirds are known to parasitize the nests of over 220 different species! Some recent research has shown that individual female cowbirds usually “specialize” in parasitizing one particular host species. The majority of hosts won’t recognize the cowbird egg at all and they will take care of it as if it was their own. However, some hosts do recognize the cowbird egg as being foreign and they try to get rid of it. Larger host species will throw the cowbird egg out of the nest. Some birds, such as the Yellow Warbler, can recognize cowbird eggs but the warblers are too small to remove the eggs from their nests. Instead, they build a new nest over the top of the old one and hope cowbirds don’t come back. One Yellow Warbler nest was found to be 7 nests high due to cowbird parasitism!

Since the female cowbird doesn’t invest any time in the parenting process, she can put all her energy into egg production throughout the breeding season. She will mate with many male cowbirds through the breeding season and, believe it or not, can lay up to 77 eggs in a season!

Have YOU seen Brown-headed Cowbirds? Share your sightings in the comments!

06/08/2026

Attention Sacramento: tonight’s is doing something extraordinary. And all you need to see it is a clear view west. 🪐✨

and are passing so close together tonight they will appear as a brilliant double star in the western sky. No telescope. No app. No special equipment. Just step outside after sunset, look west-northwest, and prepare to have your mind blown. This is one of the most spectacular sky events of the year, and it is happening right above Sacramento tonight. We love any excuse to get Sacramento eyes off screens and onto the sky. 🪐 Tag us in your sky party photos tonight — we want to see what you see. Drop a 🪐 if you are going outside to look up!

made two incredible videos about these two planets and we are absolutely obsessed. Watch them. Then go outside and see both with your own eyes tonight.

06/06/2026

Week 1 YELC (Youth Environmental Leadership Camp) ✔️

We had the best time at camp this week with all the new campers we met! Thank you to all the business partners that make this camp possible. Thank you to all the parents that drive their kids out to each day!

We are so thankful and we will rest over the weekend to do it all again next week! Thanks to our staff for all the fun this week.

Sacramento Splash

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