sleeping American Wigeons - Northern Pintails - sleeping Northern Pintails
with Snow Geese in the background
Mareca americana - Anas acuta - Anser caerulescens
On Tuesday, we decided to drive down to Gray Lodge with our friends Rod and Rochelle. We were hoping to see the Snow Geese before they headed north to their arctic breeding grounds, and we were in luck! There were thousands and thousands of Snow Geese at the Wildlife Area! During the day, these geese spend their time preening their feathers, socializing, vocalizing constantly, and sleeping! They are also watching for predators or intruders, such as Bald Eagles, foxes, coyotes, humans, and helicopters.
The air was filled with their constant calls, one of my absolute favorite sounds to hear in the winter. The sky was also occasionally filled with the Snow Geese themselves, when thousands would be startled by something and take to the air. After a threat had passed they would circle around and re-land in the wetlands! What an amazing sight to see!
Snow Geese - Anser caerulescens
When they flew close to us, we could see their black wingtips!
Snow Geese - Anser caerulescens
There are thousands of Snow Geese that spend the winter at Gray Lodge! If you visit Gray Lodge, you'll notice that the geese aren't feeding! They mainly roost there during the day, and leave at dusk to forage at night in the surrounding wetlands and agricultural fields of California's Central Valley.
Northern Pintails - Black-necked Stilt
Ana acuta - Himantopus mexicanus
There are also thousands of ducks overwintering at Gray Lodge. Many of them breed in the north central part of the U.S., central and western Canada, and Alaska. Unlike the Snow Geese they appear to be feeding in the Gray Lodge wetlands. Most of them are dabbling ducks, which feed by sifting pond water through the lamellae (comb-like structures) inside their bills, for plant matter, insects, and worms. In some areas the water was quite shallow, only a few inches deep. The ducks look like they're floating, but they were probably standing!
Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus
This week there seemed to be an abundance of Black-necked Stilts at Gray Lodge. They were mingling with the dabbling ducks in the shallow wetlands. They live year-round in California's Central Valley and southern Coast.
"Black-necked Stilts are among the most conspicuous and readily identified of all shorebirds. They have the second-longest legs in proportion to their bodies of any bird, exceeded only by flamingos.
They have 3 visual feeding methods: Pecking, Plunging, and Snatching. Pecking method consists of visual search for prey while standing still or walking slowly, followed by a quick jab of the bill to capture prey on mud or near water surface; head does not go under water. In Plunging method, head and upper breast enter water to capture food from within the water column. Snatching method involves capture of a flying insect with bill.
In freshwater wetlands they eat: crawfish ; water-boatmen ; adult and larval beetles , especially crawling water-beetles, predaceous diving beetles, water-scavenger beetles , and aquatic species of weevils; fly larvae, especially soldier flies and brine flies ; snails ; small fish ; and frogs ."
Greater White-fronted Geese - Anser albifrons
Bird names are often a wonder. For instance, why name a shore bird with BRIGHT RED legs the "Black-necked Stilt"? Why name a goose with a pink bill the "Greater White-fronted Goose"? I would have named them "Red-legged Stilts" and the "Pink-billed Geese"! I guess their obvious characteristics weren't the criteria for the name givers!
I've written a lot about all the ducks, raptors, shorebirds, and songbirds at Gray Lodge in previous posts. Just search for "Gray Lodge" or a bird species in the "search this blog" bar on the top right of this blog. In the meantime here are a few of the ones we saw this week.
Green Heron - Butorides virescens
I love seeing these beautiful chicken-sized birds!
Great Egret - Ardea alba
Adult Great Egrets obviously don't have many predators or need for camouflage! Their bright white feathers stand OUT in the wetlands. I looked up their predators, and it turns out that most predation happens to the young while they are in the nest.
Red-tailed Hawk - Red-shouldered Hawks
Buteo jamaicensis - Buteo lineatus
We saw lots of raptors at Gray Lodge, mainly Red-tailed Hawks. We did however see a very distant Bald Eagle, as well as the distant Red-shouldered Hawks pictured above!
Red-eared Sliders - Trachemys scripta elegans
Unfortunately we saw several non-native/invasive Red-eared Slider Turtles in the wetlands. These turtles are extremely detrimental to the native Western Pond Turtle. The following information is from the californiaherps.com website.
"The Western Pond Turtle is in decline throughout 75 - 80% of its range. There a number of reasons for this decline.
Beginning in the 19th century, the commercial harvesting of Western Pond Turtles for food was a major threat to the species. That trade continued at least into the 1930's.
Another cause for the decline of the species was the massive wetland drainage projects in the Great Valley of the early 20th century which destroyed numerous wetlands and lakes and altered rivers, all of which destroyed or reduced suitable habitat for the Western Pond Turtle. Tulare Lake, now gone, was once the home to an estimated 3.5 million pond turtles, almost all of which are now extinct in the area. The destruction or degradation of other wetlands throughout the state has certainly also added to the decline.
The introduction of non-native turtles into Western Pond Turtle habitat, especially the two most successful invasive turtle species, the Red-eared Slider and the Painted Turtle, has been another cause of the decline of the Western Pond Turtle. Both species are common in the pet trade and feral turtles now found in California were most likely released by their owners. Since the Western Pond Turtle is the only native freshwater turtle in its historic range, it did not develop the ability to successfully compete for resources with other species of turtles, and both the Red-eared Slider and the Painted Turtle produce nearly twice as many offspring as the pond turtle which allows them to overwhelm and out-compete the pond turtle population.
Another threat to the pond turtle has been the American Bullfrog, an invasive species that has spread throughout the state. In 1994 report, Dan C. Holland writes that the invasive bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is a known predator of Western Pond Turtles, and the report includes a picture of a bullfrog preying on a juvenile pond turtle in San Diego County. Bullfrogs breed in such large numbers that adults can eventually eat so many hatchling turtles that few turtles can survive to adulthood and after the existing adults die off there will be no more turtles at that location."
Coral Tooth Fungi - Hericum coralloides
While we were in the preserve, Rod spotted a toothed fungi growing on the trunk of a Cottonwood Tree! We weren't sure what species it was. Rod didn't think it was a "Bear's Head" (Hericum abietis), but agreed that it was a relative. He later identified it as a Coral Tooth Fungi (Hericum coralloides) in the toothed fungi family, which inaturalist.org agreed. The main difference is that the Bear's Head Fungi grows on conifers and the Coral Tooth Fungi grows on hardwoods! How cool! We had never seen this fungi before! WOW! For more information on fungi, check out the mykoweb.com.
Parrot's Feather - Myriophyllum aquaticum
In some of the canals, there was an aquatic plant that looked like it was covered with yellow flowers. We had a close look and realized that there weren't any flowers, just yellow leaves. It turns out that it was an invasive, noxious weed that originally came from the Amazon River, called "Parrot's Feather"!!! The leaves are so finely divided they indeed look like feathers! In the Spring this plant does have tiny 1/16" white to pinkish flowers at the base of the leaves.
It can grow into large mats, that can choke waterways, and shade out and kill the native aquatic plants and the critters that depend on them. I hope the local agency has plans to get rid of this plant!
The Sutter Buttes as seen from Gray Lodge
As the day came to a close, we reluctantly headed home from Gray Lodge, after another exquisite day among thousands of birds! Such Beauty!!!
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What's happening on the river?
What's happening up in the higher elevations, like Yuba Pass?
Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more.
Your questions and comments are always appreciated. Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thank you!
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