Killdeer Babies on the Tuolumne River!

The pictures are not as clear as I would like, but you can see them! The Killdeer chicks were born this week!

It's always a bit scary for the Killdeer mama (Charadrius vociferus). They love setting their nests on rocky open ground, and the only such ground locally is around the concrete margins of the Waterford sewage treatment facility. The gravelly surface is traversed constantly by maintenance trucks. I do know however that the employees are careful when they know a nest is present, as they will put a pylon out nearby to warn drivers. But there was no evidence that they had detected this nest, so I just worried for weeks as mama tended to the eggs.

Having nests out in the open like the Killdeer prefers is also perilous because of the threat of all manner of predators. There are cats, foxes, otters, and rats in the area, as well as kestrels and ravens. The Killdeer eggs are well camouflaged among the stones, and the bird is famous for its broken-wing strategy of distracting predators away from the nest.

Still, I was distressed to see that the nest seemed to be abandoned in the last few days, and I worried, but today I saw the almost comically small killdeer chicks running around after their mother.

 

Baby Killdeer on the Tuolumne River Trail

 A first for me: a baby Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous). I was watching for the Killdeer eggs to hatch last year at our Outdoor Nature Lab at the Great Valley Museum, but I was out of town when they were born, and they were gone by the time I got back. I've been watching a nesting Killdeer along the trail for the last few weeks, but those babies haven't hatched yet. But tonight I was walking near the eastern end of the water treatment plant when I saw a couple of shorebirds in the distance. One was big, and the other wasn't. I focused in and realized it was a young Killdeer following its parent. There's no telling precisely how old it is. They are able to walk as soon as their feathers dry after hatching.

The Birds of Del Puerto Canyon - A Place That Could Soon Be Damned

This portion of the canyon would be inundated by the proposed reservoir.

The Diablo Range is one of the principle "sub-ranges" of the California's Coast Ranges, running more than 100 miles from Highway 46 at Polonio Pass to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. There are only a few major highways that cross the range, principally the Altamont Corridor and Pacheco Pass at San Luis Reservoir. There are a handful of state parks that preserve a portion of the range, mainly Henry Coe and Mt. Diablo, but for the most part the lands are privately owned and are given over mainly to grazing and ranching. Only one paved road provides access to the interior of the range north of Pacheco, and that is the winding route of Del Puerto Canyon.

Loggerhead Shrike

Del Puerto is the only public access to the mountain range in Stanislaus County, and as such is one of very few places where anyone can study the unique bird life (and many other animals) in this intriguing place. But now there are plans afoot to eliminate much of that access, and indeed to severely impact the natural environment. There are plans to build a large dam that will inundate five miles of the extraordinarily scenic canyon.

Savannah Sparrow

The canyon is one of the most important bird habitats in Stanislaus County, offering a significant variety of ecosystems, including riparian wetlands, grassland prairies, oak woodland, and a unique serpentine soil-based gray pine habitat. The eBird archives record more than 160 species of birds in the canyon

Killdeer

These pictures, some better, some worse, record two trips in the last year up into the canyon, when I didn't actually have a lot of time for actual birding. They serve to show the wonderful opportunities the canyon has for learning about the fascinating natural history of our region. The proposed dam would have a profound impact on the environment of the lower canyon.

Bullock's Oriole, a summer migrant in the canyon

Black-headed Grosbeak, another summer migrant

Western Tanager

Say's Phoebe in the lower canyon

Northern Harrier in the proposed dam site

Western Kingbird in the lower canyon

There will be many reasons offered as to why this reservoir is SO necessary, and how there will be SO many benefits. But the question needs to be asked, what is this taking away from all of us?

If you are on Facebook, check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/463664377903706/

Read the Environmental Impact Report at this link. If Del Puerto Canyon has significance to you, please respond and be active in the opposition! If you have expertise in any of the areas that will affected, you need to be heard from.

There are several important meetings and deadlines coming up very soon:

1/15 3:30pm Protest. Corner of Ward and Sperry
1/15 4:00pm Public Meeting. Hammon Senior Center 1033 West Las Palmas, Patterson
1/21 6:30pm City Council Meeting. 1 Plaza Circle. - request they take a stand, voice concerns
1/27 5:00pm Public Comments DUE. ahansen@delpuertowd.org OR Anthea Hansen PO Box 1596 Patterson CA 95363
1/28 9:00am Board of Supervisors Meeting 1010 10th St Modesto CA - voice concerns, they have final decision

Let's Catch that Bird with the Broken Wing! The Killdeer of the Great Valley Museum Outdoor Nature Lab

It's an omen of sorts, or maybe a blessing by nature.

The Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous) is the mascot or icon of the Great Valley Museum, as can be seen on our various logos. There is a good reason for this: the bird survives quite well in the valley environment, both on the dry prairies and in the river/delta wetlands.

We had a major moment take place this week: after 35 years of proposals and dashed hopes, and after a year of fenced-off construction zones, the fences came down and yesterday people could walk freely along the paths of our new Outdoor Nature Lab. It is a marvelous microcosm of the environment of the Great Valley, with native vegetation and native rock exposures from the prairies at the confluence of the Great Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills. Interpretive signs will soon be posted, and activities will soon be available for our local children to learn about their local natural environment.

Our local species are already responding to the newly completed environment, and in particular, the Killdeer, our icon. We noticed almost right away that a pair was moving around the grounds, and we suspected there might be a nest. Someone soon found it, but I don't know how they ever saw it.

How good are you at nest-finding? It's in this picture...can you find it?

The eggs will be incubated for 22-28 days, and when they hatch, the chicks will be able to walk as soon as their feathers dry off. Given such a vulnerable location, just sitting out on the ground, one has to wonder how they can survive out there in the open prairie.

It involves deception, of course. If the danger is from a browsing cow or deer, the parents will make a big display to cause the animals to graze in another direction. But if the danger is a predator that might eat the eggs and/or the parents, the birds will do a fascinating "broken-wing" dance that will catch the attention of the fox or raccoon and the birds will lead the animal away from the nest. We were subjected to the dance while we took a short look at the nest. Check out the video of the display below.

What a wonderful welcome to the next stage of our service to nature education in our community!

Our Campus Mascot, the Killdeer

The birding environment on my campus has not been all that conducive to species sightings of late. It's obvious why; there are students and faculty everywhere. Even the "mini-wilderness", the drainage basin on the edge of campus has been quiet. There's no water. Until the rains begin again, there's not much for the birds there. The other day, though, I had a reason to visit the campus on a weekend, and there was a bit more going on. With no one around, the birds were exploring the open spaces on the campus.

I was lucky enough to catch a couple of Killdeers (Charadrius vociferous) patrolling one of the empty parking lots. The Killdeer is kind of a mascot for our campus and the Great Valley Museum), being the only bird that appears on our logos.

The Killdeer is found across most of the North American continent and the range extends some distance into South America. They are members of the Plover family, which are usually shorebirds, but the Killdeer willingly spends lots of time in dry environments as well, eating a diet consisting mostly of insects.

They will raise their young in open fields, scraping out a nest directly on the ground.  They've nested in the vacant field north of our Science Community Center, the site of our future Outdoor Education Center, so hopefully the native vegetation that we intend to plant will continue to attract them. They are known for their practice of pretending to have a broken wing to draw predators away from their nests.

Killdeer at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

Is there anything more striking than the fiery eye of a Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)? They are certainly interesting to watch for other reasons, but that eye just commands one's attention. We were on a short exploration a couple of weeks ago at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, and one of them was kind enough to hang around close enough for a few pictures.

Killdeers are members of the Plover family are named for their unique call, not for anything violent they might do to a deer. They are found across all of northern and central America, and have done well living close to humans. They are ground-nesters, and as such have developed a dramatic broken-wing act designed to draw predators away from their nests.

The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge preserves a portion of the floodplain of the San Joaquin River and Bear Creek on the floor of the Great Valley south of the town of Turlock. There are three auto tours, and eight nature trails that provide access. The Killdeer was seen along the Bear Creek Unit auto-tour, a loop of about two miles just off of State Route 165 (Lander Road). The road passes a variety of riparian wetlands and grassy prairie. We'll be back in a few weeks, because the abundant rains this year promise a stunning wildflower show.

Field of Dreams: Killdeer in the future Outdoor Education Laboratory

I've not posted for several weeks. It's the last few weeks of the semester and things are hectic, leaving little time for explorations and walks. I noticed something today from my third floor laboratory. There has been a lot of construction going on across the campus, mostly involving the design and alignment of a road around the north end of campus. A worker was putting up some markers along the north edge of our future Outdoor Education Laboratory, which is intended to be a small natural habitat on campus that will replicate some of the natural ecosystems of the Great Valley.  The work was causing a commotion, as a number of Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) were voicing their objections to his presence.

I'm curious to know if our Outdoor Education is already in operation. I didn't see the Killdeer doing their iconic "broken wing" distraction, but I'm wondering if they maybe have a nest out in the weeds somewhere in the midst of the future habitat. Nature may be claiming its spot.

We've been fighting for an outdoor education facility on this campus for more than thirty years, and it is our understanding that it is finally going to happen. We haven't been kept in the loop on the planning, so I hope it doesn't get screwed up. There is a lot of potential value in having something more than displays in a museum. Displays are important, but imagine the thrill of learning something inside the museum, and then stepping outdoors and witnessing the phenomena in real life. It's priceless..

The field of dreams! I hope it won't turn out to be a broken dream.