Northern Shovelers at the Cosumnes River Preserve

Some people, when they are on a long journey, will stop at rest stops or gas stations, or maybe fast food outlets. Mrs. Geotripper and I are not quite like that. When we were looking for our first rest stop on our holiday travels, we noticed a sign for the Cosumnes River Preserve north of Stockton in the Great Valley. That was therefore our first stop. The Cosumnes River is one of very few free-flowing rivers left in the Sierra Nevada, and a patchwork of government and private entities manage tens of thousands of acres of the river where it flows through the Great Valley. I described the nature of the river in my post on the Greater White-fronted Geese that we saw there.

We also saw a number of Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata). They have unusually long beaks with serrated edges that allow them to strain food out of the water efficiently. They are abundant birds, with a range that extends from northernmost Alaska to the southernmost end of Central America (as well as much Europe and Asia). As is usual in duck world, the males are the colorful ones.