We return to early frontier California at Rush Ranch, part of the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area near Fairfield. This is a Gold Rush-era farm complete with horse corrals and old barns, set within 2,000 acres of grasslands and marshes. The land has been preserved for the public by the Solano Land Trust. Sweeping to the horizon in all directions, the grasslands are the hunting ground of many owls, such as the Great Horned, Barn, Burrowing and Short-eared. Raptors include Red-tailed hawks, harriers, White-tailed Kite and Kestrels, among others. We listen to the music of singing meadowlarks as we walk the fields, and occasionally glimpse Loggerhead shrikes on the fence lines. So if you’re partial to wide open spaces and large wing-swept predatory birds, this trip is sure to become a “rapturous” memory! Moderate walking, good genre and landscape photography.