My spouse and I used to spend New Year’s Day at the movies. When the pandemic closed the theaters in 2020, we decided to spend the day checking out the local birds instead. After a leisurely morning watching the Rose Parade last Monday, I wandered over to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area to check out the local peeps.
A recent rain left part of the auto tour closed but I was glad to see a lot more water in the ponds. They are still pretty low but there was enough water to attract plenty of the migratory birds.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
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As I drove atop the levee to get down into the bypass, I saw a Red Tail Hawk relaxing in a tree right at my eye level.
Red-Tailed Hawk scratching that itch.
The first pond I viewed had been dry my last visit but was now partially filled.
Northern Pintails in the partially filled first pond.
Green Wing Teal amidst the water weeds.
Small flock of English House Sparrows settling in a bush next to the pond.
I drove the alternate auto route and came across a couple of my favorite birds.
One of about 2 dozen Black Necked Stilts foraging in the shallows.
Intent on his prey, this Great Egret ignored me when I stopped to watch him.
Black Phoebe perched on the pumping station equipment
I had limited time because the sun was already starting to drop. I drove past flooded rice paddies and ponds and noted the following:
A lone White Fronted Goose sleeps among the Pintails, Shovelors, Teals and shorebirds.
Killdeer one of approximately 10 foraging in a muddy rice paddy.
Short-Billed Dowitchers and a Greater Yellowlegs doing their probing.
Western Sandpipers and Dowitchers
White Crowned Sparrow hiding in a bush next to a pond,
Western or Semipalmated Sandpipers?
A Northern Pintail smoothly glides across a pond
Mallard Pair stays close to the Tule bushes
Red-Winged Blackbird sings his heart out to the setting sun
White-Faced Ibis on the right joins the ducks in a paddy.
A Savannah Sparrow grabs a bite to eat before dark.
Gulls, possibly California or Herring and Ringbilled, find a suitable resting spot for the night.
Great Egret makes one last forage as the sun slides behind the coastal range.
As the sun set, I looked up in a tree and saw a raptor silhouette. Too big for a Kestrel and too small for a RT Hawk. It’s a Merlin — a new lifer for me on the first day of the year.
A comfortable perch as the sun set behind him.
Last year at this time, Northern California was being blasted by an atmospheric river of storms. We had 17 straight days of rain and high winds with broken levees, flooded neighborhoods, dozens of trees toppling into buildings and on top of cars. Massive flooding closed freeways and some major streets. The Cosumnes River Preserve was under 8 feet of water and the Yolo Bypass filled with excess floodwaters and ended up being closed for 3 months.
This year, it looks like we are settling into a pattern of alternating days of sun and rain. We are getting needed rain and snow at a much slower pace. I hope this pattern continues for the next two months so that we get enough rain and snow but not too much all at once.
What’s up in your neck of the woods?