Some Close-Up Shots at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) with juvenile

One thing about having relatives in Oregon is that we get to travel north during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Doing so brings us in close proximity to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near Williams in California's Great Valley. We usually manage to eke out a stop during our long drives between states, but we missed a year because of the accursed pandemic. 

Ross's Goose (Anser rossii)

We were thus especially looking forward to a tour of the auto-loop this morning and we were not disappointed. California's Great Valley (called by some uncreative souls the Central Valley) is a major wintering habitat for millions of migrating geese, swans, cranes, and ducks. 95% of the valley has been co-opted by agricultural development, so the few wetlands preserved as refuges are critical to the bird's survival. There were thousands of Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) and Ross's Geese (Anser rossii) present in the ponds. They can be tricky to distinguish from a distance, but if you compare the photos above you can see the Snow Geese have a dark lining like lipstick on their beaks, which are also longer. The Ross's Geese are smaller overall as well.

When I mention that there were thousands, I was not exaggerating...they filled the skies, and the sound of their squawking in any other setting (for instance a horror movie) would be terrifying.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

There were some Great Blue Herons present, and they seemed rather accustomed to the large iron-clad beasts rumbling by on the road. I don't often get a chance to be so close to them.

We are used to seeing many of these birds at the refuges in our own backyard, but the Sacramento refuge is a more dependable place for spying a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Or should I say it spied us? This one was only 20-25 feet above us.

The adult was watching over two juveniles in the next tree. It takes them a few years to get "bald", but the huge beak is always distinctive.

Our biggest thrill was catching sight of a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). We had finished with the eagles and told ourselves we were out of time and that there weren't any birds that would stop us from finishing the loop, but of course only 200 yards down the road we had this falcon politely posing for us. Of course, we stopped and spent an inordinate amount of time taking pictures. We made it home in time to pick up our precious kitties from the kennel, but only barely.

 

Avian Dinosaurs: Bald Eagles at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

Sometimes I am reminded that the dinosaurs never actually went extinct. They were decimated certainly, and their present-day species don't look all that much like their ancient ancestors, but there are occasional clues to their dinosaurian past. The claws of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), for instance. We were at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge just before Christmas, and saw several of birds at close quarters.

How close are the birds to the dinosaurs? Dinosaurs are classed as reptiles, but the reptiles we know today, the lizards, snakes, turtles, and crocodiles, were separate evolutionary lines in the Permian and early Triassic, before the dinosaurs even arose. The crocodilians are the closest of these ancient relatives, but they were already on their own evolutionary path during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods when the dinosaurs were dominating the terrestrial habitats of the planet.

The birds on the other hand developed from the dinosaurs, descending from small theropod carnivores similar to the Velociraptor or Deinonychus, monsters made famous in the Jurassic Park movies. Evidence has emerged in recent decades that many dinosaurs may have in fact sported feathers (which are modified scales). Many bird embryos support teeth that are later resorbed during development.

In any case, that's what I was thinking about as we came across at least three Bald Eagles while traveling the auto tour route at the Sacramento Refuge. There were a couple of immature individuals and one adult. They were accustomed to automobiles passing by so they didn't retreat as we passed by, enabling me to get a zoomed view of their claws.

One juvenile was still hanging out with mom, while the other was on its own. They were a sight to see in the rain (that's why they all looked a little scruffy; they were generally soaked).

One Species or Two? The Grebes of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

One of these is not like the others. Can you tell which one is which?

The concept of a species has apparently always been a problem in biology. The definition I was taught, the idea that a species is a group of organisms that can produce viable offspring, is a real problem in my own field of geology and paleontology. How can we know if a species was capable of successfully reproducing from fossil evidence? We depend on the morphology a great deal, but it often produces problems. Consider what future paleontologists will think about fossils of all the dog breeds in existence...would a Chihuahua be considered the same species as a German Shepherd? There are debates about whether the large number of species of ceratopsian dinosaurs might actually be growth stages of a single species.

As we learn more, the idea of boundaries between species becomes even more uncertain. There are some species that are more closely related than others, and hybridization is a common phenomenon. Such hybrids may be a powerful driver of evolutionary change. Which brings us to these unique birds in the pictures today. They include a single picture of some Clark's Grebes (Aechmophorus clarkii), and some Western Grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis). We saw them in the ponds of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near Willows, California, on the first day of our recent journey through British Columbia and northern Washington state. What criteria did you use to distinguish between the two?

Biologists considered them to be the same species until 1985, when they split them because they didn't tend to interbreed, had different calls, occupied slightly different niches in their wetlands environments, and on major differences in their DNA sequences. The Western Grebes are more numerous (~110,000 vs ~11,000), but both are threatened by loss of their wetland environments. The most visible differences are the eyes, which are surrounded by black in the Western Grebe and white in the Clark's Grebe. The beak of the Clark's Grebe is brighter yellow while the Western's is more olive in color.

The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge is one of our favorite birding spots. It has spectacular seasons in fall and winter when the migrant ducks, geese, and cranes arrive from the Arctic. The birds gather in flocks 10,000 strong, and few sights are as memorable as seeing all of the Snow or Ross's Geese taking off at once. Summer is much quieter, but is a good time to view the year-round species and the raptors. I noted 26 different species on our late June visit.

Back From the Brink: Peregrine Falcon at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

I saw a particular bird species for the first time on Thursday after hoping to see one of them for years. It was a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), one of the iconic success stories of the environmental movement. The species was on the brink of extinction because of DDT contamination, but the banning of the pesticide allowed populations to slowly recover. Although they are no longer on the endangered species list, their total world population is only around 140,000 individuals. But for all my searching, I'd never seen one until last week when I visited family in Florence, Oregon for the holidays.

Now, I realize that Florence is not the location I mentioned in the title of the blog. That's the funny part. It was dusk and the bird was so distant that I only got a few fuzzy shots that were only good enough to identify the bird. The best shot, much photoshopped, is below.

Fast forward to Saturday. We were on the long drive home, but we can rarely resist the urge to see what's going on at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in California's Great Valley near the town of Williams. There is a marvelous six-mile auto tour through the refuge. We were on the back half of the drive when I saw an unfamiliar bird up on of the trees. Very much to my surprise it was another Peregrine Falcon! And this time I got pictures!

It was a great trip through the refuge, but I was deeply bothered by one thing: no one was minding the shop. The visitor center and bathrooms were closed and there was no law enforcement anywhere. Technically people could have driven in and vandalized anything they wanted. They could even have shot birds There was in fact shooting going on in the distance, but I don't know if it was legal or not). It was the partial government shutdown of course. Trump has left our national parks, monuments and refuges unprotected because of his obsession with a useless wall. He has much to answer for.

Snow Geese at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (and a bonus volcano!)

The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge preserves wetlands and prairie environments in the northern part of the Great Valley between Williams and Willows. It's one of our favorite sites for birdwatching in the entire state, in part for the variety and number of birds, but as can be seen in these photographs, for the setting as well.

To the northeast the volcanic center of Lassen Peak looms over the valley floor. The volcano erupted only a century ago. To the west, the northern Coast Ranges form the background to pictures of flying geese.

The Snow Geese (Chen caeruescens) are present in the ponds by the tens of thousands. Much of the time they simply placidly float across the ponds grazing for food, but something (a raptor, tourists, coyote?) will cause thousands of them to take flight all at once, and it is a truly dramatic sight. It's also loud (check out the video below).

Like many other birds in the Great Valley, the Snow Geese are migrants. They breed in the far northern reaches of the Arctic in Canada and Alaska and spend their winters in warmer climates like the valley, and other refuges in the southern United States and Mexico.

The birds are monogamous for life and often travel in large family groups. Their numbers have increased greatly over the years and so they are hunted on other parts of the refuge system. There are reports that they are putting considerable environmental pressure on their breeding grounds as well. They do have a great many predators, both of the eggs and young, and also adults. No wonder they flock into the air so much...

This wasn't the biggest flock taking flight that day, but it was the only video I caught of them taking off. Enjoy...

Bald Eagles at the Sacramento National WIldlife Refuge

We've never had a disappointing trip to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge between Williams and Willows in California's Great Valley. We usually make it there during our trips north at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we sometimes drop in during the summer if we are traveling that way.

There was a lot going on when we came through at the end of December. I literally was stepping out of the car at the visitor center parking lot when someone pointed out the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) sitting in the eucalyptus trees a few yards away. We saw four more of them along the six mile auto-tour route, two adults and two juveniles.

I know that folks farther north don't get quite as excited at seeing this interesting bird since they are more common up north, but I've only seen a couple of them in our region, so this is more of an event for me. I read interesting accounts of the hundreds of eagles that pester fisherman and residents of fishing villages in Alaska.

Still, these thieving lazy birds (by some accounts, including Benjamin Franklin) are interesting to watch. They do have that certain bearing...

Just How Close Can You Get to a Wild Bird? Great Egret at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

Some of you no doubt saw my Facebook and Instagram post of a Great Egret (Ardea alba) at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge from last week. It's a phone picture, which is sort of unusual because as good as those phone cameras are these days, it's not often I can catch pictures of birds because I'm just never close enough, and I don't have enough zoom.

That wasn't the case on Saturday. We were following the auto-tour road at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near Willows, and as we crept along, I saw this Great Egret alongside the road ahead and fully expected that it would be spooked by our passing and fly away. It didn't. I crept up to within three feet of the driver's side window, and still the bird stood there not caring whether I was there or not. I started fumbling for my camera fully expecting it to fly away, and still it didn't. I started snapping.

The detail is pretty amazing when you are only three or four feet away, and have a 60x zoom at your disposal. It's almost microscopic...for once I could look into the eye of an avian dinosaur and sense the creature within. Well maybe, anyway. I feel more affinity for mammals as a rule. These birds are pretty alien for the most part.

I took a bunch of pictures and the bird finally moved. It walked right around the car so Mrs. Geotripper could have her turn too! This was a defiant creature if I've ever seen one...

A Bird That Doesn't Get Much Respect: The American Coot

Here's a bird that doesn't get very much respect: the American Coot (Fulica Americana). After all, what is that we call an eccentric or crotchety person, especially an old man? I was mildly shocked to go down my list of blog posts to find that I've never done one about the coots. Still, they are versatile birds that do very well in aquatic environments. I see them often when we tour our local refuges, but maybe because they are common, I find I've taken few pictures of them. I did take a few, though, when we stopped in at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge during our holiday travels. They have very interesting red eyes.

The coots are not ducks, but are instead more closely related to Sandhill Cranes and rails. They don't have webbed feet, for one thing, and aren't the most graceful of flyers. They consume vast amounts of vegetation, but are also opportunists who will eat bugs and crustaceans at times. They are common in any bodies of water from Central America all the way to Canada.

Belted Kingfisher at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

I've seen the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) a few times on my trail along the Tuolumne River, but they've kept their distance, and it has been fairly hard to get clear pictures. We were headed home from the holiday travels, and noted previously, we stopped at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in the Central Valley of California. We were excited to see a pair of Bald Eagles while we were there, and thought the birding was over with when we got back to the visitor center at the end of the auto-tour. And wouldn't you know, there was a Belted Kingfisher hanging out around the pond at the visitor center!

I got a couple of fairly decent shots, although they are still a bit fuzzy at the distance. The brown-colored breast feathers indicate a female (one of the few birds in which the females are more brightly colored).

Juvenile Bald Eagle at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

Photo by Mrs. Geotripper

In all of the excitement of seeing the Bald Eagle yesterday, we almost missed another. While we were parked and snapping pictures of the adult, Mrs. Geotripper spotted another really large bird flying away off to our right.  She wondered if it was a vulture or some such, but it was flying in a very stable fashion (vultures tend to tip back and forth a bit while they soar). It landed a short distance away so we crept forward to see if we could get some pictures. As usual, Mrs. Geotripper got the best shot (above).

The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is of course the national bird of the United States, and it seems ironic that we just about killed it off, as the state of California did with its mammal, the California Grizzly Bear. The eagles were hunted, for one, but they were also poisoned by DDT. Their numbers plummeted in the middle 1990s, but the ban on DDT and their listing as an endangered species allowed their numbers to recover. I fear we are entering another dark age, as the politicians who are taking power in a few weeks have stated their opposition to both the Endangered Species Act, and the control of poisons in our environment through the Environmental Protection Agency. We have so much to lose.

A short postscript. Mrs. Geotripper reminded me that I took a short video of the eagle! Here it is:

Bald Eagle at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (and one in Oregon)

Photo by Mrs. Geotripper

I spent the better part of two weeks in the Pacific Northwest visiting relatives for the holidays, and I knew we had a good chance to glimpse some Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), seeing as they are more common up that way. We did in fact see a few, but few decent pictures emerged from my efforts. On the way home, we stopped, as we almost always do, at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, and wouldn't you know there was a Bald Eagle hanging out on a small island right next to auto-tour road in the refuge. Mrs. Geotripper got the best shot (above).

The Sacramento Refuge has a very scenic backdrop for bird viewing, with the highest part of the California Coast Ranges to the west, Lassen Peak and other volcanoes to the north, and the Sutter Buttes to the southeast.

We mentioned our excitement about seeing eagles on our Facebook page, and found out that two of them were sitting in a tree next to the Oregon house that we had just left! It's too ironic. Anyway, I did actually see one of those eagles in Oregon, but it was high above, and I got just this fuzzy shot of it soaring over my head.