Eagles & Minks

 Early this year, Tom Marx, one of Granite Bays earliest members, reported to me that he had spotted mink footprints in the sand traps near #13 green. I had never saw nor heard of a Mink in our area and immediately did a little research and found out that mink spotting's have indeed occurred not that far from the club. 

Mink, I found out are semi aquatic carnivores that feed on fish and small animals and are usually not spotted far from streams or water and have been spotted as far back as 2016 in the Natomas Basin Conservatory. Well, I spotted one as well scurrying rapidly through the creek while working on the bridge abutment with contractor's on Wednesday 3/30/21. 

The Senior men were playing Wednesday AM, and I was excited to track down Tom Marx and let  him know of my spotting. So I ran into a group looking for Tom, and asked Ed Bauer, who informed me Tom wasn't here that day but that he saw a mink shoot across the lower tee on #14 one day in the recent past. The mink attacked  a ground squirrel and drug it into the brush. So they are here, and where there is one, there are likely more. And they dont dig holes in the turf,  and they feast on other pests that do. I'm a fan. Anyone get a picture of a Granite Bay Mink, drinks are on me. 

Mink Tracks in # 13 bunker courtesy of Tom Marx

This is a pretty close image of what I saw swimming in the creek near the bridge on #14 on Wednesday AM. Not my picture. They are way too fast for me.

So while chatting with Ed and his group, Rick Talbot,  another Granite Bay early member, reminded me of another rare wildlife spotting  we shared just last week. We were near the #13 tee chatting about Ricks recent retirement and newfound desire to conquer the game of golf, when directly above our heads flew an American Bald Eagle. It was 20 to 30 feet  above us and unmistakably an bald eagle. I've seen them flying high here but never as close as this one was.

Picture of a Bald Eagle taken by the Sacramento Audubon Society. The detail depicted in this image is very close to what Rick and I witnessed last week behind #12 green.

I'm looking forward to the day when I have all of our loose ends tied up here at GBGC and can spend more of time conquering the game of golf, if that's even a thing,  and doing more course updates like these. Reminds me of what a special place this is. 

Thanks