Off-season for the American Avocets at Merced National Wildlife Refuge

The Merced National Wildlife Refuge is much more than a wintering ground for charismatic migrants like the Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. The pools, marshes, and riparian habitats preserve a precious rare portion of the original Great Valley, the vast savanna that once extended for 400 miles from the present site of Bakersfield to Redding. Today, more than 95% of the valley is given over to agriculture and urban development.

We get to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge whenever we can. There are a string of such refuges along the entire length of the valley, with some more amenable to public visitation than others. The Merced offers several hiking trails and a nice six-mile auto-tour that provides access to a variety of habitats. It's rare when we don't see some kind of interesting bird.

The American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana) we saw were in winter mode, lacking the tan or orange coloring around their necks and heads that advertises their readiness for breeding. We saw a number of them along the marshes, and several were kind enough to hold still for a few moments of photography.

The Avocets range from Central America (winter) to the northern United States and southern Canada (summer breeding). The Merced refuge seems to be a local hot spot for viewing them, according to the eBird reports. Their health in Great Valley refuges was threatened for a time by selenium poisoning from agricultural runoff (exacerbated by natural sources). Mitigation efforts have allowed the bird populations to rebound.