Acorn Woodpecker Contemplating a Sunset near Yosemite National Park

I realize the explanation is a bit more prosaic, but I couldn't help but think that this Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) was quietly contemplating a beautiful sunset yesterday in the Sierra Nevada foothills just a few miles south of the Wawona entrance of Yosemite National Park. We were exploring the Nelder Grove of Sequoia trees, and saw the bird in a dead Ponderosa tree.

Some birds are incredibly intelligent, but we don't generally give them credit for enjoying things beyond their sphere of perception, mainly where their food and shelter is, and where the predators are. A fiery sky in the distance mainly provides a bit more light as far as they are concerned. Given the many holes drilled into the trunk of the snag, it's a granary tree. I have no doubt the bird was guarding its supply of acorns that have been secreted into the holes. 

The sunset was beautiful, though.

Greater White-fronted Geese are Arriving in California!

These are birds who have traveled a very long ways. They breed and feed all summer in the far northern reaches of Canada and Alaska, but in fall they fly 2,900 miles south, pretty much without stopping until they reach northern and central California. Our valley is their winter home. A bunch of tired geese have arrived in these last few weeks. I've got pictures from two refuges, the Tulelake and Sacramento, both from my trip last week.

The Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) of Alaska and Canada migrate into California, making stops at Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge before moving on to the Great Valley.

Some of the birds that I saw feeding in the fields of the Tulelake refuge will be spending the winter in a refuge just a few miles from my house in the San Joaquin Valley.

Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge may be one of the most beautiful bird habitats in the country. Mt. Shasta and California's largest volcano, Medicine Lake Highland, form the backdrop to the refuge. Tulelake is a small remnant of a once larger lake that covered a wide fault valley near the California-Oregon border. Water diversions at the beginning of the last century caused most of the lake to dry up, the barren lake floor now planted with potatoes and alfalfa. The present lake is 1/6 the size of the original.

On the fortunate side of the coin, there were some who recognized that Tulelake was a critical knickpoint on the Pacific migratory flyway. More than a million birds need the break to rest and feed before moving farther south. The refuge was established, and whatever water could be spared, borrowed or pumped was put into Tulelake. Unfortunately, the birds are too crowded, and there are outbreaks of avian cholera at times that kill thousands, but most of the birds are able to feed and move on. The ongoing drought has been particularly disastrous, as Tulelake is near the lowest priority in water claims in the basin. Nearby Lower Klamath Lake, another critical habitat, is dry this year.

We drove home a few days later, but made a brief stop at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near the town of Williams to see what was going on. A six mile auto-tour trail provides access to parts of the refuge. We found that thousands of Greater White-fronted Geese had already arrived and started feeding in the flooded reservoirs and adjacent fields.

The White-fronted Geese show a great deal of variation and at least five subspecies are recognized. One of the smallest populations is the Tule Goose, which numbers only 10,000 or so and winters exclusively in the Great Valley, in the Sacramento and Suisan marshes.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of these beautiful birds in my own backyard soon!

Clark's and Western Grebes at Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge

Do those red eyes freak you out just a little?

There are two brand new species on the blog today, the Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis), and the Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii). Can you tell which is which? We saw these marvelous waterbirds at the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge in Northern California near Klamath Falls. 

The two birds are very similar and for a long time were considered the same species. Later on, it was determined that they only rarely interbred, and hybrids were few. There are suggestions in some studies that the Clark's Grebe feeds in deeper water.

The birds live practically their entire lives in the water, diving for fish and crustaceans underwater (they were frustrating to photograph because the moment they came into focus they would dive and disappear). Their legs are almost useless on the ground. They spend the summer in these mountain refuges where they breed, but will migrate to the sheltered areas along the coast in winter.

Photo by Mrs. Geotripper

The main visual difference? The Western Grebe is black around eyes, while the Clark's Grebe has white. The bill of the Clark's tends to be a brighter yellow.

A Hermit Thrush on California's Largest Volcano

We had a marvelous trip over the weekend through the volcano country of Northern California. Part of the fun was exploring some new places and seeing all kinds of birds, including this Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) near the summit of Medicine Lake Highland, the largest volcano in California. It was a quick shot off the side of the road, and it was gone.

Medicine Lake Highland (or the Medicine Lake Volcano) is barely half the height of Mt. Shasta, but it is much wider, and contains around 130 cubic miles of lava flows, compared to Shasta's 108. It is a shield style volcano, similar in outline to the gigantic basalt mountains that make up the Big Island of Hawai'i, but it is composed of a variety of lavas, including rhyolite and andesite. The mountain is covered by deep forests and barren lava flows, providing a variety of environments for birds.

Medicine Lake Highland is the broad dome in the distance on the center-left. Shasta can be seen in the distance on the right.

California Quail at the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge

I don't know why, but the California Quail (Callipepla californica) makes me smile more than just about any other bird. Their style of bobbing and running just looks comical sometimes. And their chicks! I'm reminded of ping-pong balls rolling along the ground and bouncing off each other when I see new hatched chicks.

I'm sure they are just living to their own aspirations. We ran into a covey of Quail while following the Tulelake National Wildlife auto tour along the lake shore over the weekend. They were hanging out all over a wooden structure in the field next to the lake shore.

Tulelake NWR was established as a critical component of the western migratory flyway. Most of the Arctic birds that winter in the Central or Imperial Valleys pass through there, taking a break and feeding for a bit. As we saw in the last post, some Sandhill Cranes have already arrived in region.

The California Quail was declared the state bird of California in 1931. I wonder sometimes why the California Condor wasn't selected for the honor, but going by looks alone, the quail is a winner. They're also easier to see, being found all over the state.

In any case, the quail is photogenic. Enjoy!

Photo by Mrs. Geotripper

The Sandhill Cranes are Coming! On the Road in Northern California

The Sandhill Cranes are coming! These beautiful birds spend their summers in the Arctic, their winters in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, and they fly a long ways between the two. So far as I know, they haven't arrived at the Great Valley wildlife refuges yet, but I can assure you they are on their way!

We are at the Oregon-California border at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge this weekend. It is a critical stop for more than a million migratory birds on their way to the Great Valley and points south, as it provides a reasonably safe resting and feeding locality before the winter snows set in. We saw tens of thousands of geese and ducks at Tulelake, and as we drove across Highway 161 on the state border, we saw perhaps four dozen Sandhill Cranes in the fields along the road. Mt. Shasta provided a dramatic backdrop.

More pictures from our adventures to come!

Land of the Lost: An Owl? In Hawai'i?

I opened this blog series on the birds of Hawai'i by discussing the nene, the Hawaiian goose species. The nene is descended from Canada Geese that ended up off course on their migrations south from Canada. It's not too surprising that they could survive the trip because the geese were strong fliers and could rest every so often. It is a great deal more surprising to see a native owl on the island. It's hard to imagine an owl surviving a journey of more than 2,000 miles over open ocean. But somewhere in fairly recent time it happened. A Short-eared Owl arrived. Accounts differ as to whether they were present when the Polynesians colonized the islands, but they were certainly present soon after. The Short-eared Owl is a common and widespread species across the planet, being found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. The native owl in Hawai'i, the Pueo or Hawaiian Short-eared Owl, is considered a subspecies of the widespread Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus sandwichensis). In other words, the birds have not accumulated enough evolutionary changes to be considered a separate species, although there are differences with their continental cousins. The owls are revered by the native Hawaiians, and numerous stories are told about them.

The photos above are the only clear shots I've taken of this fascinating and poorly-known bird. On a 2009 field trip with my students in Kauai, we were driving down the hill from Waimea Canyon (the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific"). I had been on the lookout for native birds all day, and had little success. As we drove by the lower end of the canyon, I was shocked to see an owl on a tree top just a short distance off the highway. I didn't know at the time that it was a rare opportunity, as they are not seen all that often, so much so that their numbers in the wild are unknown. They are considered endangered, though, because they nest on the ground and are subject to predation by mongooses, cats, dogs, and rats. They get hit by cars distressingly often, and they have been affected by the use of pesticides. Habitat loss is also a serious problem.

If you travel the islands, you may very well see another species of owl. The common Barn Owl was introduced to the islands in 1958 to help control the rodent population, especially in the sugar cane fields. As often happens in such situations, the owls made no quantifiable difference in the rat population, but instead developed a taste for some of the endangered native bird species. A controversial plan has been proposed to remove them from Hawai'i.