Gray Lodge Wildlife Area

The Sutter Buttes from the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area

Last Tuesday, my husband and I drove down to the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area, near Gridley, CA.  We do this every winter, often more than once!  I am in love with Gray Lodge and its wild inhabitants!  This year we saw some birds that we'd never seen before, as well as some mammals!  It was a clear, blue-sky day, filled with the sounds and sights of migrating Snow Geese!  There were thousands of them!  Such incredible beauty!

Gray Lodge is run by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. I have written about it in depth in several past blogs. Just enter "Gray Lodge Wildlife Area" in the "search this blog" bar on the top right of this page, to find more information.

Snow Geese - Anser caerulescens

Snow Geese roost in Gray Lodge by the thousands! Their constant loud calls permeate the wetland, and are as much a part of our experience as the physical presence of the birds. They roost on water and forage in the local fields for grains and marsh plants. Most feeding is done from early morning to late evening. They will begin their 5,000 mile migration to the arctic in February, arriving in their breeding grounds in mid to late May. If you haven't visited Gray Lodge yet this winter, now is the time to go!

Snow Geese - Anser caerulescens

Gadwall (male & female) - Mareca strepera

There are a LOT of dabbling ducks at Gray Lodge in an array of colors.  Most of the males are in their breeding plumages now and are pairing up!  They will not breed until Springtime, when they migrate north to their breeding grounds.  The most prevalent ducks were the Gadwalls, Pintails, and Northern Shovelers.

Northern Pintail (males & females) - Anas acuta

In general, most female dabbling ducks are drabber and more camouflaged than the males.  Camouflage works to the females advantage as they do most of the brooding of the eggs and the raising of the young.

  

Northern Shoveler (male & female) - Spatula clypeata

Male ducks moult their beautiful mating plumage, and change to dull, female-like plumage for a month or more in summer after breeding. This is called the "eclipse" phase.

Cinnamon Teal (female & male) - Spatula cyanoptera

The male Cinnamon Teal is so brilliant in its rusty-read mating colors!  Even its eyes are red! The transition from the eclipse phase back to their mating colors begins in the fall and ends in early winter.

Pied-billed Grebe (adult)  - Black-necked Stilt (adult)

Podilymbus podiceps - Himantopus mexicanus

There are also grebes, shorebirds, wading birds, raptors, and songbirds at Gray Lodge!  I saw one pied-billed ("pied"means "having two or more colors") grebe, and lots of Black-necked Stilts with their bright red legs.

Red-tailed Hawk - Turkey Vulture 

Buteo jamaicensis - Cathartes aura

Red-tailed Hawks and Turkey Vultures were the raptors that we saw this time at Gray Lodge.  They were quite common throughout the refuge!  

Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

I saw this Red-tailed Hawk softly swoop down to the road, land, and then fly off with a mouse in its beak!  It landed in a nearby bare tree and squeezed the mouse with its foot to kill it!  It then swallowed it whole! The whole process took less than a minute! WOW!!!

Green Heron (adult) - Butorides virescens

We were in a wooded tangle on one of the wetland trails, when a biggish, loudly squawking, dark bird landed in one of the nearby trees!  It only stayed for a few seconds and then took off squawking and flew out of sight!  I recognized it  immediately as a Green Heron!!!  WOW!  It was too quick for me to grab a photo, but fortunately I have some photos from 2019 when I last saw one of these unusual birds at Gray Lodge!

Green Heron (adult) - Butorides virescens

These uncommon, small herons are seen along secluded marshes, lakes, ponds and slow-moving streams, that are shaded by riparian trees. They are only 18" in length, and have short legs. They eat small fish, crustaceans, insects, frogs, and rarely small mammals. They hunt for prey day and night! They wade into shallow water and wait patiently for prey to pass by. They will also dive for prey from a perch, head first, and become totally submerged!!!  I find them to be strikingly feathered and gorgeous!

Orange-crowned Warbler (adult) - Nuttall's Woodpecker (female)

Leiothlypis celata - Dryobates nuttallii

I have never seen either of these two birds before!  The Orange-crowned Warbler was looking for insects to eat on the plants bordering a canal. Although most of these warblers spend the winter in Mexico, some overwinter in California's Central Valley.  In California, they breed primarily in the oak woodlands of the foothills, where they are quite common. The name comes from an orange patch of feathers on top of the male's head, that is rarely observed. 

This Nuttall's Woodpecker was pecking at the surface of the bark on a Cottonwood tree, looking for insects to eat.  Unlike other woodpeckers, it doesn't drill into the tree trunk to get beetle larvae.  It will also eat fruit and berries in winter, including poison oak berries!  After a few seconds,  it flew off making a loud rattling call just like a Kingfisher! This species spends it's entire life in California, mainly in the oak woodlands, and isn't found anywhere else in the world!  They aren't that commonly seen in their habitat!  How lucky to see and hear one of them!

Mule Deer (doe) - Audubon's Cottontail

Odocoileus hemionus -  Sylvilagus audubonii

Unbelievably, we saw three different mammals this time!  I saw a deer peacefully eating forbes near one of the canals!  That was a surprise, and we also spotted a Cottontail along the trail!  This was only the second time I've seen these two mammals at Gray Lodge, in all the times I've been there!

River Otter (adult) - Lontra canadensis

To my complete surprise, a River Otter was swimming towards us down one of the canals!  When it saw me, it turned left, climbed up over a dirt dike, and swam off into a pond on the other side of the dike!  

River Otter (adult) - Lontra canadensis

Once again, iike most of my wildlife sightings, it all happened in a few seconds, and I only got a few photos! Doesn't it's soaking-wet, thick fur look amazing?

The Sierra Buttes from Blue Point

3 hikes, 21 miles, and

3 different views of the Sierra Buttes!

We went on three different hikes this past week, in anticipation of snow closing the trails. The Buttes Road, Love's Falls, and the Halls Ranch/Fiddle Creek Ridge Trail added up to a total of 21 miles of hiking!  Each trail had a different view of the Sierra Buttes! 

There are many roads on the southwest facing side of the Sierra Buttes, mainly dating from the gold mining days.  My friends Nancy and BJ, and I, hiked on one that had lovely views of the Sierra Buttes, the North Yuba River canyon, and even the Coast Range!  This road starts just before the dump above "downtown" Sierra City. The round trip hike was a little over 6 miles.

The snow was minimal, the sun was warm, and the air was clear! 

We ended up at Blue Point, around 6,500' in elevation where we lingered in the sun and 8" of velvety snow, before we headed back home!

The Sierra Buttes from the Love's Falls/Haypress Creek Trail

Lat Monday my husband and I decided to hike the Love's Falls/Haypress Creek Trail to check out the fall colors.  To our delight the  Black Oaks were gorgeous in their lingering fall colors and the view of the Sierra Buttes was stunning! This trail is just past Sierra City off of Highway 49.  We went about half way, for a round trip distance of approximately 4 miles.

This hike was around 5,000' in elevation, and there wasn't any snow on the trail.  There was snow on the north facing slope across the Haypress Creek drainage, but we didn't go that far.  

It was another beautiful, warm, clear, blue-sky day, highlighted by the glowing yellows, oranges, and browns of the Black Oak Trees.

The Sierra Buttes from the Halls Ranch/Fiddle Creek Ridge Trail

Last Sunday, my friend Diane and I hiked the Halls Ranch/Fiddle Creek Ridge Trail, for a total of 9.38 miles!  This trail starts out around 2,400' in elevation, and climbs up to about 4,500' in elevation!  There is a beautiful view of the distant Sierra Buttes where the trail first reaches the ridgetop. This trail starts about 5 miles west of Downieville, off of Highway 49.

The first two+ miles of the trail climb UP to the ridgetop. From there the trail follows the ridge uphill and downhill for about 7 miles through oak woodlands and conifer forests.  It also alternately travels from the sunlit side of the ridge to the shadowed side of the ridge, as it weaves its way downhill. 

About every 20 minutes or so, the trail would open out to beautiful, expansive views of the North Yuba River Canyon.  I loved the contrast between the warm oranges and browns of the late season Black Oak leaves, and the blue shadowed, north facing, forested slopes across the river canyon!

At some points of the trail we could look down on Highway 49 alongside the shining North Yuba River!

This was our last hike before the recent storms, and it was filled from start to finish with the fall color of thousands of Black Oaks!  Such beauty!

Recent snow on the ridge above our neighborhood

Damp Earth Art

Some storms came in this week and dropped a few inches of snow at the higher elevations!  We got mostly rain in our neighborhood, and more is on the way for the next three days!  Yahoo!  I hope the storms keep coming and coming! 

I'm going to keep posting rain inspired writings, art, etc. on my blog at dampearthart.blogspot.com. Any submissions would be greatly appreciated. Please join me in my continuing hope for precipitation! Perhaps our collective efforts may help it happen.

What's happening on the river?

What's happening in the foothills?

Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!

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