Winter Days at the National Wildlife Refuges of the Great Valley, and Remembering What Once Was

Cross-posted from Geotripper (it's about California birds after all)  What's the largest number of birds you've ever seen from one spot?

The Great Valley of California is a great place to see a lot of birds in one place. In pre-colonist days, the 400-mile-long valley was a prairie that was watered by a series of rivers flowing from the adjacent Sierra Nevada. There was enough water that even in historical time there were two immense lakes between Bakersfield and Fresno, Tulare Lake and Buena Vista Lake. Before water diversions for irrigation caused it to dry up, Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.

Source: Quora

The mild winter climate of California led to the adoption of the wetlands and marshes of the Great Valley as the favored seasonal home of millions upon millions of waterfowl and other migratory birds of the arctic and far north. I can hardly begin to imagine what a wintertime journey through the pre-European Great Valley must have been like.

The ecological role of grazer in the refuges is occupied by a handful of deer and lots of sheep and cows to make up for the now-extinct megafauna

But historical accounts and paleontology can provide us some idea. In addition to birds, the vast prairies supported huge herds of tule elk, deer, antelope, and even bison. Prior to 12,000 years ago, the plant-consuming animals included giant ground sloths, mammoths, mastodons, horses, and camels. The birds and grazing animals were the prey of an imposing array of predators including the recently departed California Grizzly Bear, black bears, wolves, mountain lions, coyotes, and foxes. The pre-12,000-year crew included saber-toothed cats, dire wolves (bigger than wolves of today), American Lions, jaguars, and the immense Short-faced Bear, an animal that would have made a Grizzly think twice about a confrontation. The reason for the almost simultaneous extinctions of the species of the so-called 'mega-fauna' is a subject of contention among geologists, paleontologists and anthropologists (the role of humans has not been ruled out).

This cuddly little Short-faced Bear can be seen at the Fossil Discovery Center near Madera

I was thinking about this as we made our customary winter journeys to the local national wildlife refuges in and around Modesto and Merced. The main units open to visitation include the Merced, the San Luis (including the separate Bear Creek Unit), and the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuges. Although the boundaries of these refuges tend to be very square or rectangular and they are crisscrossed by maintenance roads, they are the only places that come close to recreating the primeval landscape that once existed.

The national wildlife refuge system grew out of a number of motives, some noble, others not so much. When wetlands of the valley were drained and planted with crops, millions of birds found their ancestral winter homes gone. With nowhere else to go, many of the geese and others began to forage on the tilled fields to the distress of the farmers. Instead of massacring untold numbers of birds, a series of refuges were established up and down the valley to provide a haven and food for at least some of the migrants. Of course, the refuges were also designed to preserve populations of the birds so they could be shot. Much of the refuge funding comes from the sales of hunting permits.

Snow Geese at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

So that is where are today. The refuges provide forage for millions of migratory cranes, geese, swans and ducks (in many they grow fields of corn for the singular purpose of feeding the birds). The birds are too crowded, and diseases can spread if the flocks are not managed properly, but it is a better situation than having no refuges at all. Some species, especially the Aleutian Cackling Goose, have been brought back from the brink of extinction (once down to just 300 or so birds, the population is more than 100,000; they mostly shelter at the San Joaquin NWR just west of Modesto). And yearly, more and more abandoned farmlands are being converted to the original riparian habitat to allow for population growth. 

I don't do video often, but the one at the top seemed necessary because I was looking at what I believed was the largest single grouping of birds I've ever seen (and I've been exploring these refuges for 7-8 years now). It required about a 180-degree pan. On the other hand, there is nothing in the world quite like watching thousands of geese taking flight all at once. When we were at the San Luis NWR last week, the serene view was of several thousand Snow Geese and Tundra Swans. It's not really a good thing for the birds to be scared into the air, as it uses precious energy, and they could get hurt. But a helicopter flew overhead at a low elevation, and it spooked the geese (the swans seemed like they could care less) and several thousand took flight. I caught the flight on video, and you can clearly hear the helicopter. I took a picture of the craft thinking to report it, but it turned out to be medi-flight out on an emergency call.  

The number of birds and the variety of birds at the local refuges is truly astounding. We saw 50 species at the San Luis Refuge last week and 46 at the Merced Refuge yesterday. The really good birders will report 60-65 in a single trip. And the birds are beautiful. Here are some that caught my eye this last week.

This Great Egret was at the San Luis NWR. Both refuges offer "auto-tours" where visitors stay in their cars (kind of like those African savannah tours, but there aren't any lions trying to eat you). The cars serve as blinds, startling birds far less than humans bumbling around.

We were looking for swans and saw large white birds off in the distance. They turned out to be American White Pelicans. They may be the most ungainly-looking birds on the ground but are positively graceful in flight. And they are huge.

The blue bill of the Ruddy Duck is rather distinctive.

The prize for wildest beak goes to the Long-billed Curlew. I guess they can reach bugs and worms in the mud and soil that other birds can only dream of.

The Greater White-fronted Goose may be one of the more unfamiliar goose species around the valley. I've seen only a few in urban settings. Like the others, they are long-range migrants.

One of the special treats for the last two or three years has been a female Vermilion Flycatcher that decided to spend winters at the Merced NWR. This is the extreme north end of their range, and only a few are ever seen on a yearly basis in Stanislaus or Merced counties. Global warming may be allowing them to expand northward, and it may be only a matter of time before the scattered males and females find each other and start making little flycatchers.

This is an American Avocet, another bird that has a crazy bill that is good for probing deep in the mud.

There are a goodly number of raptor species that live in the refuges. One of the most beautiful is the White-tailed Kite. We thought we were done with photo opportunities when we reached the open grasslands at the end of the auto-tour at Merced, but this kite was perched on the sole tree eyeing the ground squirrels (and they were eyeing it).

The last bird of the day was the biggest surprise of all because it was the first time I had seen it in several years. It's a Black-bellied Plover, and it's not all that rare. It's just that I don't always know to look for it or recognize it when I see it. And it doesn't have a black belly. The males grow it when breeding season comes along.

Sunset at the Merced NWR

We here in the Great Valley sometimes forget that it is indeed a great valley, and that there are treasures that lie just beyond the boundaries of our cities. The auto-tours at Merced and San Luis provide opportunities for all, but those who want to walk will find a number of nice level trails. I especially recommend the Pelican Trail at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge. It passes through a series of diverse habitats and offers the greatest diversity of birds outside of the Modesto Water Treatment Plant (seriously, sewage ponds attract a lot of birds!). Check it out sometime, or any of the others up and down the valley.

Two First Fall Arrivals on the Same Day: Snow Goose and Greater White-fronted Goose

One thing about the fall migration of Arctic geese into our region: when they are here, the geese tend to lose their individuality. There are tens of thousands of them, all looking alike. It's a spectacular sight to see tens of thousands of geese taking off all at once with the beating wings sounding like a jet plane. But the individuals don't ever stand out in the massive crowds.

But for a few days in the early fall, there is a moment when the first vanguards of the vast flocks begin to arrive, and for those few short moments, the individual birds, the first pioneers stand out. That was the happy circumstance this morning when I started my walk on the Tuolumne Parkway Trail. There is a big cornfield adjacent to the parking area of the west trailhead, and a week or two ago they harvested the corn and chopped up the stalks. That's goose paradise. The Canada Geese have been hanging out in large numbers and so I wasn't surprised to see nearly a hundred of them this morning. But one of them was white, and that wasn't normal.

I got the camera out and had a closer look. It took only a moment to see the red legs and pink beak that proved the bird was a Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens). I noticed it was holding its wing at an odd angle, making me wonder if it was injured in some way. If that was the case, it's possible this individual isn't a returning migrant, but instead was forced to stay behind last spring. I did notice that when I came by again 90 minutes later, all the birds were gone, so maybe it was able to fly after all.

But while I was scanning the flock I noticed a pair of other birds that didn't fit. They looked like Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) at first glance, but they seemed to lack the distinctive coloration on their breasts. I got pictures and checked the books and realized I had found a pair of juvenile Greater White-fronted Geese, who lack the distinctive streaking.

You can come looking for them if you want to see them, but be reassured that in a few short weeks there will be tens of thousands of them arriving as winter approaches. Our local bird refuges will be spectacular!

Strange Looking "Geese" at Goose Day on the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge

Um...those don't look like geese to me...

The San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge is a marvelous bit of the (almost) original landscape of the Great Valley of California, combining prairie and riparian habitats in support of hundreds of thousands of migratory waterfowl. There is a four mile long hiking trail in one sector of the refuge, but only a viewing platform at the other, at the end of Beckwith Road a few miles of west of the town of Modesto. I have seen incredible sights from the platform and from along the road, but it's always been sort of a mystery as to what lies in distance, the places where the public is not usually allowed to go.

Last month, we were given the chance to find out. The refuge sponsored their first ever Goose Day celebration on January 13, and the festivities included an auto-tour into the interior of the preserve. The managers expected two or three dozen people, but got 100-200 people instead. The group worked out caravanning and dozens of cars motored their way into the refuge.

The ironic part of course is that few geese were in attendance (who could have foreseen that?). I don't think anyone who was there was disappointed. Their interest was in all of the birds who call the refuge home, and the chance to see the interior up close. Aside from a few comments about how cold it was, I heard no complaints. The most visible of the "charismatic" birds were several dozen American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) on an island in Page Lake.

The pelicans famously scoop up fish in their bill, although they do not store them there (they swallow them right away). They don't dive like Brown Pelicans, but instead will hunt cooperatively, swimming along in a group herding the fish ahead to where they can scoop them up.

The Pelicans are doing well. Their population crashed in the middle 1900s due to pressure from hunters and fishermen who feared the birds were consuming the valuable fish species (they weren't). DDT had an effect on populations as well, as did wetlands habitat loss. Their numbers are rebounding today.

The auto-tour spent around an hour on the shoreline of the pond in the midst of the refuge. We did see geese flying overhead, and we also saw a Great Horned Owl, Sandhill Cranes, Black-necked Stilts, Yellowlegs, and numerous other shorebirds. The tour continued on the other side of Beckwith Road, following the dike along the Stanislaus River across from Caswell State Park.

One can see why they don't want to have unrestrained public visitation. The road maintenance costs would be prohibitive.

After the tour I did in fact find a couple of geese, some Snow Geese along Beckwith Road a bit west of the viewing platform. There are in fact tens of thousands of geese in residence, but during the day they range across the region looking for food. They gather at dusk in huge flocks.

A few days later, things were back to normal, and I headed out the platform during an afternoon break. There were hundreds of Pelicans on the island, and perhaps several thousand Sandhill Cranes visible from the road.

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...

Snow Geese at the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge

It's been quite some time since I've been out to the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge, so when I got a few extra hours in my day, I hurried out to have a look. Few birds were actually at the viewing platform, but there were a few Sandhill Cranes at the end of the road a mile farther west. The best sight was about a mile to the east. There were several hundred Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens), and White-fronted Geese, and they were grazing in close proximity to the road. The birds are getting ready to begin their journey north to the Aleutian Islands for summer breeding. In the meantime, they were building up their fat stores of the northern journey. It's a privilege to have them so close to town!

American Kestrel at the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge

There were rumors "flying" about in birding circles this week about a Brant that made an appearance at the Beckwith Road viewing platform. Well, not rumors, it was actually there. It's only the fourth appearance by this goose species ever in our county. I'm not quite to the place where I drop everything in an effort to see a single rare bird, but I was in town on errands, so I went on out to the San Joaquin NWR to see what was happening. It was early in the afternoon which is not the best time to see the birds, and my low expectations were fulfilled. The geese flock was nearly a mile away. There was not much else going on, but as I was leaving, I saw an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) perched on the telephone wires.

It was not as skittish as they often are, and didn't fly off, so I got a couple of shots. They are colorful little falcons.

It looks like some Snow Geese and Ross's Geese have begun arriving in the valley. I could see a flock at the pond in the great distance, along with the Cackling Geese.

A Different Kind of California Snow: Geese Getting Ready to Fly at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge

A juvenile Snow Goose

Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) are a big part of winter here in California. They shelter in the string of national wildlife refuges up and down the valley, and in those refuges they can cover the ground like snow.

I was at the San Joaquin NWR a week earlier, and saw few Snow Geese (two, to be exact), so I could be forgiven for thinking they had already started north on their migration, but yesterday at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, I realized they are still here, by the thousands.

They won't be here much longer, of course. They've been storing up energy for the long flight ahead to their Arctic breeding grounds. It's going to be a lot quieter on the refuge.

The gray birds in the foreground are Sandhill Cranes

There is nothing quite like seeing thousands of Snow Geese taking to the air all at once. One can't always see what causes the mass flights, a marauding hawk, a coyote, or an idiot tourist, but if you are nearby, it sounds like a jet plane. Somehow they invade the sky without knocking each other down.

I didn't catch the moment of liftoff, but here is a short video of Snow Geese filling the skies at Merced yesterday.

Greater White-fronted Geese and Friends at the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge

Greater White-fronted Geese at the San Joaquin NWR

Between storms this week, I made the drive out to the viewing platform on Beckwith Road west of Modesto, on the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge. It wasn't easy! The roads were flooded in places, and mud covered parts of the access road. But the birds were certainly there.

Greater White-fronted Geese and Aleutian Cackling Geese

There were thousands of them, but unlike earlier visits, they were spread out and were intermingling with each other. There weren't the flocks of tens of thousands of a single species. It might have been the time of day, but I think there was an element of resources. Most of the maize fields have been cut down now, and they seem to have eaten most of the food. That may have caused them to spread out and graze much closer to the road, where the corn hadn't yet been completely consumed.

Greater White-fronted Geese. The name comes from the white patch behind the beak.

The birds I noticed the most were the Great White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons). They are winter migrants, breeding far to the north in the Arctic. They were mingling with Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens), Cackling Geese (Branta hutchinsii), and Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis).

Greater White-fronted Goose and a Snow Goose

Conditions weren't the best for photography, given the overcast and late afternoon, so the pictures are a bit more fuzzy than I would like. But who cares, really? I was away from the hustle and bustle on campus for a few precious minutes, seeing beautiful creatures.

Sandhill Cranes at the San Joaquin NWR

It's still January, but I'm already feeling like they'll be gone soon, headed back north for the summer. I'll be hanging on to the precious moments while I can.