Gray Lodge Wildlife Area!

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.

Thousands of Snow Geese in flight - Anser caerulescens

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 will the weather bring?

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!

We have had a LOT of rainy days in December! In the past four days we got 3.95" of rain! It rained and rained and rained!!! Our water-year total is already up to 30.50"! Four days ago the river was running at 5,800 cfs (cubic feet per second) and had a gauge height of 9.57'!  In contrast, it looks we have a sunny week coming up, which will be a welcome change! Maybe I can go for a hike! Fingers crossed!

We are so grateful that we've been getting all this rain! Additionally, I'm very grateful that the snow level has been around 6,000' and higher. Which means that we're not out shoveling snow, as we live around 2,600' in elevation! Yay!!!!!

View of the North Yuba River from the Yuba Rim Trail overlook

In between rainstorms, I managed to hike with my friends Diane and Martine on the Yuba Rim Trail. This trail is in the foothills, and in the winter we usually hike out to the overlook of the North Yuba River. This year I suggested we take a side trail down to the river that none of us had ever hiked before. It turned out to be quite an adventure! 

After approximately 1.8 miles on the Yuba Rim Trail, we came to the junction with the Trabucco Trail. We veered off and headed downhill for about 1.1 miles on a lovely trail through a mixed oak/conifer forest with views of the distant ridges. We ended up on a fairly steep decline in the last .5 mile on what appeared to be an old, wide road, that ended at the junction with the Yuba Drop Trail.

Silk Tassel in berry - Garrya fremontii  

We came across a lot of Silk Tassel Bushes as we dropped down to the river. Silk-Tassel is dioecious, like willows, having male and female flowers on separate plants. The tassels are the male flowers, the berries are the fruits of the female flowers. I hadn't seen a silk tassel bush "in berry" for years, so I didn't even recognize this one! The berries we found on the ground were very dark blue, almost black! The ones still on the bushes were a light dusty-rose in color. It is browsed by Mule Deer in winter and spring. The fruit is eaten by songbirds, mountain quail, gray fox, and rodents. It provides good cover for black bear, mule deer, and various birds and small mammals.

 Toyon in berry - Heteromeles arbutifolia

The Toyon bushes along the trail were COVERED in BRIGHT RED berries! Just beautiful! Toyon berries form in June or July, but don't ripen until December! When they are green they contain cyano-glucosides in their pulp. When a bird tries to eat a green berry, cyanide gas is released and deters the bird! The unripened berries are also full of bitter tannins that discourage foragers! Over time the cyanide compounds gradually move into the seeds and the tannins diminish. In December, when the berries are bright red, they aren't bitter and the pulp no longer contains cyanide compounds! Approximately 20+ species of birds eat Toyon berries during winter! In addition to Western Bluebirds, you might see Band-tailed Pigeons, Cedar Waxwings, Hermit Thrushes, and Varied Thrushes feeding on them! Foxes, Brush Rabbits, Black Bears, and Coyotes also feed on the ripened berries!

Unknown mushrooms

We also saw a few mushrooms along the way. This was a nice surprise, as this winter I haven't found very many mushrooms in the woods. I don't know the names of the ones pictured above.

Diane and Martine on the Yuba Drop Trail

The Yuba DROP Trail turned out to be aptly named. It was SUPER STEEP, dropping 1,000' in only .9 of a mile! Sheesh! It had lovely views of the river canyon as we dropped down and down on switchback after switchback. The abundant acorns on the trail added a bit of difficulty with their roly poly nature, and parts of the trail also had some steep drop offs. We definitely had to watch our step! 

The Bear Yuba Land Trust warns "This is a very difficult, double black diamond trail. This is BYLT’s most challenging trail and should not be taken lightly. It is only 0.9 miles but it is very steep terrain. Be sure to bring more water than you think and some food to snack on. The payoff at the bottom is worth the effort."

Townsend's Solitaires - Myadestes townsendi

Along the way I was delighted to see several Townsend's Solitaires perched in open areas in the river canyon. In our area, and in the foothills, I only see these inconspicuous birds in the winter. Their white eye ring makes them easy to identify. 

The Cornell website https://birdsoftheworld.org/ states: "In summer, the Townsend's Solitaire haunts a variety of montane coniferous forest types, up to and even above tree line. In autumn, it descends to lower elevations, spreading outward from the mountains into adjacent foothills and valleys and wintering in juniper woodlands or other habitats that provide abundant fruit. Most populations appear to make only a short altitudinal migration between summer and winter grounds, although northern breeders migrate longer distances southward for the winter. In a few areas the species is resident year-round."

Townsend's Solitaires are known for their beautiful song which has been described on https://birdsoftheworld.org/ as, "one of the most glorious and beautiful of bird songs”, and an “infinitely fine and sweet rendering of mountain music...in rippling cadences”. I personally have never heard their song, but I don't have great hearing either. Sure would LOVE to hear it! Maybe next year!

Sierra Newt - Taricha torosa

Just before we reached the river, I spotted a Sierra Newt in full on "warning" position on the trail!  I think that my fellow hikers may have almost stepped on it, and caused its alarm!  Luckily it was fine, but too cold to move! It must have used all its warmth and strength to put on this defensive display! I carefully picked it up and put it off the trail and out of harms way. When we came back, about half an hour later, it had moved out of sight! Yay! What a beautiful little creature! How lucky we were to see it! We didn't see any more of them that day, just this one!

The Sierra Newt in the photo above, is responding to danger by showing its bright orange belly and throat. It is warning potential predators that it is poisonous, with its aposematic coloring. Not many animals prey on newts, except for garter snakes, which are known to develop a tolerance to the newt's neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin! Handling newts does NOT expose you to this toxin, but eating one could kill you!

North Yuba River - downriver

In a little under an hour we reached the end of the Yuba Drop Trail, and the beautiful North Yuba River!  It was gorgeous! The water was low, so lots and lots of water sculpted bedrock was exposed! 

 

North Yuba River - upriver

We were in the cool, winter shade of the river canyon. It was invigorating! After many years of looking down at the river from the Rim Trail, it was a thrill to actually be on the river! I felt so privileged to be there!

Water-sculpted Bedrock

The sculpted bedrock was massive and timeless. For thousands of years, water has carved and smoothed these rocks! Such beauty! 

North Yuba River

 The deep green pools in the river channel, made us all want to revisit in the summer, to swim, explore and spend the whole day there. Unfortunately, we had to head back up the trail after a short while, as daylight would be gone by 5:00 pm. Alas, the short days of winter! The hike back up was indeed the steepest uphill mile I have EVER hiked! We definitely had our legs, hearts and lungs working! But we made it in less than an hour back to the junction with the Trabucco Trail, then up onto the Rim Trail and back to our car, a round trip of 8.4 miles.

That morning I was thrilled to enjoy a beautiful sunrise! It was a glorious start to a wonderful day out in the wild once again!

What the heck is this???

Neighborhood News!

Again, in between rainstorms, we got out for short hikes in our neighborhood this past month! Just three days ago, my husband and I came across a group of male and female Western Bluebirds bathing in a rain puddle!  Wow!!! It was such fluttery beauty!!

Male and female Western Bluebirds bathing in a rain puddle - Sialia mexicana

Bathing in water helps birds clean and maintain their feathers. Good feathers are necessary for flight, insulation and waterproofing. Bathing removes dirt, bacteria and parasites.

The following information on the act of birds bathing is from the website at https://web.stanford.edu/.

"A bird is considered to be bathing whenever it uses any of several stereotyped movements to wet its feathers. One pattern, wading, is commonly observed in birds with strong feet and broad, short, flexible wings. In a typical sequence a bird stands in the water, fluffs the feathers to expose the bare skin between their bases, and rapidly flicks the wings in and out of the water. The breast is submerged and rolled vigorously back and forth, and then, as the front end emerges, the head is thrown back, forming a cup with the partially elevated wings and tail, and dousing the feathers of the back. Those feathers are elevated so that the water reaches the skin, and then lowered, forcing the water between them. The sequence may be repeated, with the bird submerging farther in each cycle, until it is a mass of soaked disarranged feathers. Variations on this theme can be seen in different species, such as robins, thrushes, mockingbirds, jays, and titmice.

The frequency of bathing by land birds typically is related to the weather. On a hot summer day titmice or chickadees may take five baths; in midwinter they still may bathe several times a week, often in snowmelt found in protected areas.

After bathing, birds dry themselves using ritualized movements. Even swimming birds must force the surplus water from between their feathers to protect their insulating properties. Songbirds shake themselves to throw off water by vibrating wings and tail and ruffling feathers. All birds normally follow bathing with preening."

Red-shouldered Hawk - Townsend's Solitaire 

Buteo lineatus - Myadestes townsendi

I was thrilled to see a Red-shouldered Hawk perched above the river last week!  I haven't seen one in a while! Red-shouldered Hawks used to live exclusively down in the foothills and delta areas of California. They have recently expanded their territory to include our river, at around 2,600' in elevation. Riparian areas are their preferred habitat. They eat reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, and occasionally birds, such as Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, and Starlings. Hopefully I'll see this one again soon!

This Townsend's Solitaire posed for a photo on one of our walks!

Common Goldeneyes - Bucephala clangula

I've been waiting and waiting for the Common Goldeneyes to show up on our river, and they finally arrived this week! I saw two different groups of males and females one morning! They will spend the winter here. In California, Common Goldeneyes are the only ducks that regularly spend the winter on rivers and lakes above the foothills of the western Sierra.

They are diving ducks and eat fish, aquatic vertebrates, seeds, and tubers. When diving, they keep their wings pressed to their sides underwater, and swim with their webbed feet! They are amazing to watch when they're underwater! This species can fly up to 40 mph, and the wind "whistles" through their wing feathers! Right now the males are in their black and white mating colors, and the females have a yellow tip to their bill.

Common Goldeneyes are found across the U.S. in winter, and across the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska during the breeding season. They prefer the forests as they are tree cavity nesters, like Buffleheads, Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and Common Mergansers!

Snow Geese - Anser caerulescens

What's happening in Gray Lodge?

What will the weather bring?

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 January 18, 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!

Another Year!

Northern Pintails and American Wigeons with Snow Geese in the background

Eight years ago, on December 23, 2016, I started this blog! This year, due to my husbands health, I wasn't able to get out and explore as much as usual. This made my time out in the wild even more precious! I still managed to see lots of incredible landscapes, wildflowers, birds, insects, herptiles, and mammals! Below are photo-composites of some of the amazing beauty that I was so privileged to see this year!

This year I had an astounding 21,535 hits on my blog (7,000 more than last year!), from 70 different countries!!! Thanks go to all of you for your continued interest in my blog! 

Landscapes:  My own neighborhood is constantly surprising me with new wildlife sightings and incredible beauty! Table Mountain once again had an amazing wildflower bloom this year, that was a pure delight to hike through.

The Sierra Valley nesting season was fabulous to watch once again!

The Sierra Buttes and the Lakes Basin were ever-changing beauty!

Daugherty Hill Wildlife Preserve and the "Other" Spenceville were delightful to visit in the winter as always!  I am so lucky to be able to hike and observe nature in these special, unique habitats!

Sunrise in my neighborhood

Table Mountain

Sierra Valley

Sierra Buttes

Daugherty Hill Wildlife Preserve

The "Other" Spenceville

Sunset in my neighborhood

Insects: This year I saw several insects that I'd never seen before. Some of them I saw because of my new interest in investigating the trunks and bark of conifer trees, a fascinating new subject for me! I also saw a Sphinx Moth with cocoons of the parasitic Braconid Wasp on it! I had never seen that before either! Wonders never cease when you're out in the woods!

Achemon Sphinx Moth

Pink-faced Jewel Beetle - Wood-boring Beetle

Red Admiral Butterfly - Northern White Skipper

Chalk-fronted Corporal Dragonfly

Great Basin Wood-Nymph - Nelson's Hairstreak Skipper

Wooly Aphids - American Square-headed Snakefly larva

White-lined Sphinx Moth Caterpillar parasitized with Braconid Wasp cocoons

Birds: Bird watching is one of my absolute favorite pastimes! This year I lucked out and saw several that I have never seen before! I also saw a juvenile Bald Eagle that was almost totally dark. I didn't recognize it as a Bald Eagle in the field, but later found out that Bald Eagles don't get their distinctive white head and tail until they are 4-5 years old!!! Another surprising sighting was a male Ruddy Duck doing a mating display called "bubbling"! While I watched it, it pointed its tail straight up and repeatedly pounded it's breast with its bill that created a small semi-circle of bubbles in the pondwater in front of it! Wow! I was also enchanted by a murmuration of thousands of Red-winged Blackbirds! I love all the grace, colors, behaviors and songs of birds!

Bald Eagle (adult)

Lewis's Woodpecker (juvenile) - Merlin (adult)

American White Pelican (adult) - Bald Eagle (juvenile)

Ruddy Duck "Bubbling" (male)

Bewick's Wren (adult) - Snowy Egret (adult)

Buffleheads (female & ducklings) - Long-billed Dowitcher (adult)

Red-winged Blackbirds (adults)

Wildflowers: It was another incredible wildflower year this year! Howard Meadow was once again displaying thousands of Corn Lilies and many other wildflowers!!! It was blissfully beautiful to wander through! Bridgeport/South Yuba River State Park and Table Mountain, were also carpeted in Spring blooms! New to me this year is the Pretty Jacob's Ladder that I saw for the first time ever, over in Frenchman's Canyon! How lucky I was to enjoy this profuse bloom!

Corn Lilies and Groundsel

Yellow Cat's Ears - Dutchman's Pipes

Bur-Reed - Canyon Delphinium

Monarch Butterfly on Angelica

Indian Warrior - Blazing Star

Pretty Jacob's Ladder - Yellow Mariposa Lily

Bird's-eye Gilia, California Poppies, Blue Dicks & Kellogg's Monkeyflower

Mammals: Mammals are never numerous in our area, so they are always a delight to see. This year I was astonished to see an American Mink in our neighborhood river!  I hadn't seen one in five years! It was only in sight for less than a minute, but what a thrill that was! I also saw a Sandhill Crane with a vole (probably) in its beak, which I'd never seen before! And the most amazing sighting of all was a Mountain Lion, 15 feet away in my neighbors terraced garden!

Mule Deer Doe and Fawn

Mule Deer Buck - Mule Deer Doe

Pronghorn - Gray Fox

American Mink

American Mink - American Mink

Chickaree - Sandhill Crane with Vole

Mountain Lion (photo ©Clinton Hayes 2024)

I'm so looking forward to another year of hiking and exploring our incredible natural world, and am SO grateful that I still CAN!

Check back in two weeks, on January 4th, for my next blog post.

Best wishes for the New Year to all of you!

The Marysville Rice Fields!

Sandhill Cranes (juvenile & adult) - Antigone canadensis

My husband and I traveled down to the Marysville Rice Fields this week to go bird watching. We hadn't been there in three years! The rice fields, in California's Central Valley, support many wildlife species!!! The following information from https://calrice.org explains this complex relationship.

"California rice is uniquely connected to the environment and the long-term survival of 230 wildlife species that depend on planted rice fields in the Sacramento Valley.

Every species from Swainson’s Hawks, Bald Eagles, Sandhill Cranes, River Otters, Western Pond Turtles, millions of migratory waterbirds traveling the Pacific Flyway, and the state and federally threatened Giant Gartersnake all utilize the important habitat and food resources planted rice fields create.

With 95% of California’s historic wetlands now gone, rice fields now serve as critical surrogate wetland habitat for wildlife. Acquiring, restoring and replacing the wetland habitat and food resources for wildlife rice now provides, would cost close to $3 Billion.

Every year 7-10 million ducks and geese innately travel to Northern California’s Sacramento Valley, spending the winter months in rice fields, relying on leftover rice grain as a primary food source enabling them to refuel before the next long journey.

Rice fields provide more than 60% of the diet for the millions of ducks, geese and other wintering waterfowl.

Winter flooded rice fields also create critical habitat space for waterfowl to rest and develops aquatic organisms known as “Zooplankton” which is a nutrient-dense food source for fish.

Continued yearly work between rice farmers and scientists indicates rice fields may hold the key to boosting the state’s dwindling salmon population, with rice fields creating nutrient-rich food for baby salmon.

Planted rice fields are inherently multi-beneficial, with many others connected to the growing process. 40% of water used to grow rice gets recycled, flowing to neighboring farms to help irrigate other crops, traveling to wildlife refuges for reuse or continuing downstream returning to the environment.

For two decades now, the Sacramento Valley has been designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site of International Importance, with rice fields being recognized for their importance to shorebird populations along the Pacific Flyway."

Sandhill Cranes - Antigone canadensis

Luckily we came across a small group of Sandhill Cranes right near the road! These birds migrate down in the Pacific Flyway from British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and northeastern California, to overwinter in California's Central Valley. They are 4' length, with a 7'7" wingspan! They roost at night in shallow wetlands but feed by day in agricultural fields. The are mainly herbivores, and eat corn, roots, seeds, cultivated grains, and berries, as well as small mammals, insects, snails, reptiles, and amphibians. Their feeding and roosting areas are typically less than 2 miles apart.

Sandhill Cranes (juvenile & adult) - Antigone canadensis

While we were watching the small group of Cranes, they took off and joined a distant bigger group of Sandhill Cranes. The total we saw was 18 Cranes!  What a thrill it was to see these incredible winter visitors!

 Three White-faced Ibis - Plegadis chihi

These gorgeous birds have come down from their breeding grounds either in Idaho, Montana, N. & S. Dakota, Iowa or Utah, to spend the winter in California's Central Valley. During their breeding season (April to mid-May) a white rim of feathers is displayed around the bare skin of their face, hence their name! The birds pictured above weren't in their mating colors yet, but in the right light the iridescence of their feathers was a palette of colors!

White-faced Ibis - Plegadis chihi

They use their long decurved bills to probe for aquatic insects, crustaceans, earthworms, and midge larvae. We saw large groups of them in the shallow, muddy fields. When they fly they look almost prehistoric to me, with their curved necks and bills.

Tundra Swans - Cygnus columbianus

There were hundreds of Tundra Swans on the rice fields, adults as well as juveniles (the smaller gray ones)!  They have recently arrived from their breeding grounds in the arctic, a 2,500 mile one-way flight!!! They will spend their winters in the Central Valley. They do not dive, but submerge their heads to forage for the leaves, stems, seeds, and tubers of aquatic plants, such as rice. These large swans have 7' wingspans, are about 4.5' tall, and can weigh up to 16lbs! I find them to be beautifully elegant!

Greater White-fronted Geese with hazy Sutter Buttes

 Anser albifrons

Greater White-fronted Geese also migrate down from the arctic to spend the winter in the Central Valley. They feed on marsh grasses, sedges, berries, and seeds from agricultural crops. They are primarily diurnal feeders, and roost on wetlands at night.

Greater White-fronted Geese - Anser albifrons

We saw small as well as large groups of these geese in the rice fields.  Interestingly, we didn't see any Snow Geese that are the prevalent goose in many of the Central Valley wetlands.!!! Maybe they don't eat rice grains???

Northern Pintail (female in front - male behind) - Anas acuta

Although officially Pintails don't "pair-up" until late winter, the female and male pictured above (in their mating colors) definitely look like a pair! They only mate for one season, and the males often mate with several females.

Most of the ducks we see on the rice fields are "dabbling" ducks, not diving ducks. They feed on the bottom of the very shallow water, by tipping their head down in the water and holding their tails in the air. The water is probably only a few inches to a foot deep.

Northern Pintail (female - male) - Anas acuta

One flooded field was mainly covered with Northern Pintails this year! Pintails may stay year-round in the Central Valley of California, or they may migrate to breed in the prairie-pothole region of Canada and Alaska. They primarily feed on marsh plants, aquatic invertebrates, and grains in shallow water and dry fields. They forage in wetlands by day, and flooded rice fields by night.

American Coots - Fulica americana

We came across a HUGE group of American Coots in one of the rice fields. I didn't count them all but there were probably over 500 of them all together!  Apparently this is common behavior in the non-breeding season! It was quite the sight to see! Check out the video below!!!

American Coots - Fulica americana

The Cornell Lab states, "On wintering grounds, [coots] may gather in large, densely packed rafts of >1,000 individuals in open water and when sleeping in emergent macrophyte (aquatic plants that emerge above the water) cover. Coordinated swimming movements of birds within these densely packed aggregations suggest they may function in obtaining food."

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Corthylio calendula

Neighborhood News!

While visiting our brother-in-law I happened to see a male Ruby-crowned Kinglet outside his window that was showing it's red crown!  It apparently thought that its reflection was an intruding male! It repeatedly hopped up and dropped down with its red crest showing, though not fully erected! What a privilege to watch this little determined male trying to chase off a competitor! It was a once-in-a-lifetime sighting!

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Corthylio calendula

Check out this video! (Sorry about the background voices!)

Non-biting midges - Chironomidae Family

To my delight, once again the non-biting midges were happening above the pine trees on the Open Slope! This year I made a video of them, so you can get a sense of how many there were, and how they move with the wind!

Midges are often mistaken for mosquitoes due to their similar size and body shape. They lay their eggs in shallow waters. The eggs sink to the bottom. In a few days the larvae hatch out of the eggs and burrow into mud, or construct a small tube in which they live, feed and develop. The aquatic larvae feed on detritus in the water and are a great source of food for fish and aquatic insects. After 2-7 weeks, the larvae turn into pupae. The pupae then swim to the surface and the adults emerge from their pupal exuviae (cast off skin). Adults do not feed and spend their short, 3-5 day lives mating in huge groups!

Non-biting midges - Chironomidae Family

Check out this video! (I apologize for the lens flare.)

Shaggy Mane - Questionable Stropharia

Coprinus comatus - Stropharia ambigua

At last I found some mushrooms popping up in the forest!  I've been looking and looking and finally found a good patch of the very common Questionable Stropharia mushrooms and one more Shaggy Mane! That's it! This year there is a definite lack of mushrooms! Perhaps the cold temps, in the 20's, has kept them from growing.

Questionable Stropharia - Stropharia ambigua

Winter's Solstice is next Saturday, December 21st! The increase in the number of daylight hours is always welcome during these short days of winter, and a definite cause for celebration! 

What's happening in the foothills?

What will the weather bring? 

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. This month will be an exception, as my annual yearly summary will be posted on December 22nd. See you then!

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!