A Kettle at Kewin: Acorn Woodpeckers on Dry Creek

I don't know who is responsible for the names of the different flocks of birds, but somehow a grouping of woodpeckers is a "kettle". I was running errands today in the La Loma area of Modesto and passed Kewin Park, a notable birding spot in the middle of town. Dry Creek runs through the park, and a nice riparian habitat has been maintained along the length of the creek which ironically is often not dry (miles and miles of irrigated fields upstream provide runoff during the dry summer). I saw a gathering of Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) so I jumped out and snapped a few pictures.

The woodpeckers live in communal groups in the oak woodlands of the west from Oregon to Central America. As their name suggests, they consume acorns. They store vast numbers of them in holes that they drill into tree trunks that are called granaries. Single trees can have tens of thousands of these stored acorns, and they are carefully guarded. One can often hear their distinctive 'waka waka' long before seeing them.

The Sleeping Owl Awakes: Western Screech Owl at Enslen Park

Now that I know where it hangs out, it takes no time at all to check on the little Western Screech Owl (Megascops kennicottii) when I am running errands in town. I drove by today, and it was still in the same hollow, but this time it was awake.

I am struck by how well this little owl is camouflaged. I walked right by the tree the first time I was looking for the owl. I only barely saw it on the second try, and then only after having seen pictures showing the size and species of tree.

Let the Sleeping Owl Lie: Western Screech Owl in an Unusual Place

The local birding community is like those anywhere else in the sense that a new and rare bird will cause a lot of excitement, and people will drop everything to try and catch a glimpse. I've had a little bit of experience with the concept, having gone to Dawson Lake to try and glimpse a Vermilion Flycatcher that wandered into our county late last year.

Then there is a second category, birds that are relatively rare, but have established a territory or home over a period of time where the bird can be observed fairly easily. Today's bird, the Western Screech Owl (Megascops kennicottii), falls into that category. This one lives in Enslen Park in the town of Modesto. The birders mentioned stopping by the park to check on the owl, but provided little idea of where to look. I walked around the park a few weeks back and didn't see anything. But more recently I found a couple of pictures that birders had posted, and I could see the owl was perching in a hollow of a maple or ash tree, so I knew not to waste time on the numerous redwoods and oak trees in the park. I was on an errand this afternoon and parked at the southeast corner of the park, and very much to my surprise, I spotted the owl in less than a minute. Can you see it in the picture above?

The Western Screech Owl ranges all across the west (there's a surprise), but they prefer wooded areas and are thus not often seen in the Great Valley. Modesto loves her trees, and the parks and neighborhoods are full of good habitat for owls. This owl has been reported in the park since 2015, no doubt helping with rodent control around the trash cans.

The owl wasn't doing much, just sort of dozing. As I observed it seemed to take no notice of my presence. Only later when I was looking at the pictures I had taken did I notice that it was indeed keeping an eye on me (below).

Bird of the Day: A Different Canada Goose, the Cackling Kind. Evolution on the Continent

If you've ever been accosted by a Canada Goose at the local park, pictures like these might give you the shivers. If one of them can deliver a nasty bite, just imagine what a few thousand of them can do. But take heart, these scenes are no nightmare. They aren't even Canada Geese. The birds occupying this field in the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge west of Modesto are Aleutian Cackling Geese (Branta hutchinsii). It's true, though, that before 2005 they were Canada Geese. Allow me to explain.

The Canada Goose lives in many environments, and in some cases particular flocks broke away and colonized different islands or territories (see yesterday's post for an extreme example). The presence or lack of food sources or differences in the nature of predators favored certain traits (size and behavior, for instance) in the young. The geese who summered on the Aleutian Islands were long recognized as a smaller subspecies of the Canada Goose, but recent DNA analysis has led researchers to consider these birds an entirely different species. And so these birds are not Canada Geese, they are the much smaller Aleutian Cackling Geese, which are genetically distinct from the Canada Goose.

The Cackling Geese winter by the tens of thousands in the wildlife refuge a few miles west of my home. It is a stunning sight to see so many of the birds in one place. From the observation deck on Beckwith Road, one can see and hear thousands of birds taking off and landing, and in general making a racket (cackling, as it were). They have been encouraged to stay here instead of nearby agricultural fields through the planting of corn and other food plants. In April they will pick up and leave, headed north to breed in the Arctic.

The refuge is also home to thousands of lesser Sandhill Cranes. We could just make out a flock of them in the far distance. Snow Geese also winter in the area. There were five of them among the thousands of Cackling Geese yesterday, looking mildly confused. They usually arrive in large numbers in late November or early December.

"George, are you SURE this is the right place? Shouldn't you have asked directions in Oregon?"

As we were standing and watching the flocks there was a tremendous BOOM, and thousands of the geese immediately took flight. A huge dust plume over to the west revealed where the explosion had come from. And why.

It was a huge net. Several dozen of the birds had been trapped and for the next few minutes we could see Fish and Wildlife employees tagging them.

As usual, the picture quality from YouTube sucks (the compression process I suppose), but you can get a sense of the cacophony of sound from the flying geese from the short video below.