Bare Winter trees in Gray Lodge - 1/10/25
Every winter, my husband and I drive down to Gray Lodge Wildlife Area, near Gridley, CA. to see the birds. It's a wetland where thousands of Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese reside in the winter, as well as a wide variety of dabbling ducks, wading birds, shorebirds, rails, cormorants, songbirds, and raptors. It's a two hour drive one way, but it's well worth the drive. It is one of my absolute favorite places to go! It is SO alive with all the birds!
One section of the wildlife area is reserved for just wildlife viewing, and has a lovely 3+ mile walking trail through the Wildlife Area, as well as a one-way mile-long scenic drive. There is a $5.50 fee per person, that you put in an envelope and drop in a pipe safe. If you haven't gone yet, go soon, as the birds start flying north to their breeding grounds in February.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife states, "The property was designated as a wildlife area by the Fish and Game Commission in 1953. The principal land use currently practiced at Gray Lodge is the provision of seasonally flooded wetlands for migratory birds. The 600 acres of riparian woodlands that remain here include cottonwood, willow, blackberry, and wild grape. They provide food, shelter and shade for aquatic and terrestrial species like the garter snake, great blue heron, ringtail, and river otter."
Currently Gray Lodge includes 9,100 acres of land acquired mainly through the cooperation of local ranchers and the California DFG. It is planted with crops to attract waterfowl, and to keep waterfowl out of privately owned rice/agricultural fields. Hunters are allowed to hunt on some sections of Gray Lodge, and their fees are used to maintain the wildlife area. Bird populations have dramatically increased, and illegal hunting has been curtailed since its establishment. Gray Lodge is a success story on many levels!
Thousands of Snow Geese in flight - Anser caerulescens
One of the most amazing things that happens whenever we're at Gray Lodge is the spontaneous eruption of thousands of Geese! The sight and sound of all those geese flying overhead is an overabundance of beauty! Their calls, as they fly above us, are a cacophonous delight to hear!
1,000's of Snow Geese in flight - Anser caerulescens
Here's a short video of this beautiful event! Enjoy!
Snow Geese landing - Anser caerulescens
Usually the geese circle around a few times, then gradually drop back down to the wetland they just took off from! Again, it's amazingly beautiful!
Snow Geese landing - Anser caerulescens
Another short video of grace and beauty!
Snow Geese (3 adults - 1 juvenile) - Anser caerulescens
Snow Geese mate for life. They probably keep track of each other in groups of thousands of Snow Geese through vocalization!!!
The Cornell website https://birdsoftheworld.org/ states:
"Pairs usually stay together for life. If one member of a pair dies, the other goose usually finds another mate within the same breeding season. Parents accompany young throughout their first winter, and family break-up occurs upon return to breeding ground, though some young stay with their parents until the adults are incubating. Yearlings leave the breeding grounds on a molt migration. However, when parents fail to breed or lose clutches early, some yearlings may reunite with their parents and remain with them through the following winter."
Greater White-fronted Geese (adults) - Anser albifrons
Greater White-fronted Geese are also numerous at Gray Lodge. They often travel together with Snow Geese. They breed across northern Canada and Alaska. They, like the Snow Geese, mate for life and care for their young for more than a year.
A variety of ducks in flight
The Other birds!
That's not a group of Snow Geese flying by, it's a group of ducks, including American Wigeons, Northern Pintails, and Northern Shovelers! Thousands of ducks spend the winter in Gray Lodge. While some may stay year-round in California, many of them breed in the north central part of the U.S., central and western Canada, and Alaska.
American Wigeons - Northern Pintails - Northern Shovelers
Mareca americana - Anas acuta - Spatula clypeata
This year the two most numerous species are the Northern Pintail and the Northern Shoveler. Hanging out with them is a smaller population of American Wigeons. I have written about all these ducks in previous posts, just type in what species you want in the "search this blog" bar on the top right of my home page, and you will be taken to any blogs that feature information about your species of choice!
Northern Pintails (female - male) - Anas acuta
American Wigeons (female - male) - Mareca americana
Northern Shovelers (male - female) - Spatula clypeata
Ring-necked Ducks (female-male) - Aythya affinis
Common Gallinule (adult) - American Coot (adult)
Gallinula chloropus - Fulica americana
For the first time ever I saw a Common Gallinule this week, and it's only because my friend, Mary, pointed it out to me! She said that they're quite common! They are sort of similar in appearance with American Coots. Perhaps I've mistaken them for Coots in the past. Interestingly, Common Gallinules and American Coots are both classified as Rails, and live in California's Central Valley year-round.
The Cornell website https://www.allaboutbirds.org states:
"The Common Gallinule swims like a duck and walks atop floating vegetation like a rail with its long and slender toes. This boldly marked rail has a brilliant red shield over the bill [during mating season] and a white racing stripe down its side. It squawks and whinnies from thick cover in marshes and ponds from Canada to Chile, peeking in and out of vegetation. This species was formerly called the Common Moorhen and is closely related to moorhen species in the Old World.
The Common Gallinule has long toes that make it possible to walk on soft mud and floating vegetation. The toes have no lobes or webbing to help with swimming, but the gallinule is a good swimmer anyway."
Green Heron (adult) - Butorides virescens
These beautiful, colorful herons live year round in California's Central Valley. Luckily, I see them almost every time I visit Gray Lodge!
The following information about Green Herons is from the Cornell website at https://www.allaboutbirds.org.
"The Green Heron is one of the world’s few tool-using bird species. It often creates fishing lures with bread crusts, insects, and feathers, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish.
Green Herons usually hunt by wading in shallow water, but occasionally they dive for deep-water prey and need to swim back to shore—probably with help from the webs between their middle and outer toes.
Green Herons are common and widespread, but they can be hard to see at first. Whereas larger herons tend to stand prominently in open parts of wetlands, Green Herons tend to be at the edges, in shallow water, or concealed in vegetation. Visit a wetland and carefully scan the banks looking for a small, hunch-backed bird with a long, straight bill staring intently at the water."
Sora (adults) - Porzana carolina
Two of the most exciting bird sightings I had in Gray Lodge this week were two different Soras!!! I have rarely seen Soras, as they are quite secretive. However, the ones I saw were both out in the wetlands foraging among the marsh plants! How cool!!! Soras live in California's Central Valley year round. Like Common Gallinules and American Coots they are classified as Rails.
The following information is from the Cornell website at birdsoftheworld.org.
"The most abundant and widely distributed North American rail, the Sora breeds and winters primarily in freshwater marshes dominated by emergent vegetation, but it also occurs in brackish coastal marshes during migration. It is more often heard than seen and gives one of the most distinctive calls of any marsh bird, a loud descending whinny call: whee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee."
The following information is from the Cornell website at allaboutbirds.org
"Soras primarily eat seeds from wetland plants, but also eat aquatic invertebrates. They rake floating vegetation with their long toes in search of sedge, bulrush, grass, rice, and smartweed seeds. They also peck at the water's surface for seeds and aquatic insects such as snails, dragonflies, flies, and beetles. Soras flick their tail as they walk slowly along the muddy edges of wetlands pecking at the surface for seeds, but they can also run with lightning speed and disappear from view in a flash. They often stay hidden in dense vegetation, but forage in the open and swim across open water on occasion."
Desert Cottontail - Sylvilagus audubonii
While we were eating our lunch we saw two Desert Cottontails emerge from a blackberry thicket! Wow!!! They are also commonly called Audubon's Cottontail. These cottontails are found in the southwest deserts of North America, and as far west as the Pacific Coast. They can live in arid areas as well as woodlands and grasslands. They eat mainly grasses, as well as forbs and shrubs. They do not develop their own social burrow systems, and are extremely tolerant of other individuals in their vicinity. They are mainly active at dawn and dusk, and seek shelter in bramble thickets during the day. I'd never seen one at Gray Lodge before! How cool!
Bald Eagle (juvenile) - Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Raptors!
Although raptors aren't numerous like the Snow Geese, there is a large variety of raptors present in Gray Lodge. Again this year, we saw an immature Bald Eagle! Perhaps it was the same one we saw last year! Bald Eagles don't get their distinctive white head and tail until their fourth or fifth year! How lucky to see one of these impressive raptors once again! Look at that hooked beak!!
Red-tailed Hawk (adult) - Buteo jamaicensis
Red-tailed Hawks are by far the most common raptor at Gray Lodge.
Such feathered beauty!
Red-shouldered Hawk (adult) - Buteo lineatus
This gorgeous Red-shouldered Hawk posed for us on our way out of Gray Lodge. So dramatically colored and feathered!
This species can be found throughout much of southwestern North America, from northern Montana down to central Mexico, and as far west as the Pacific coast.
View of the Sutter Buttes with a perching Bald Eagle!
By the end of the day, the smoke from the LA fires had obscured the Sutter Buttes. I sure hope that the winds die down and the fires stop soon!
What's happening in the foothills?
Check back in two weeks for the answers to these questions and more!
After 8 years of posting my blog, I've decided that I'm only going to post my blog every TWO weeks from now on. Check back in two weeks, on February, 1st for my next natural history blog.
Also, check out my latest post on my newly re-opened Damp Earth Blog at dampearthart.blogspot.com
Your questions and comments are always appreciated. Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!
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