Horned Larks Along Willms Road, Redux

It's the funniest thing. Once you've seen a thing, you'll always see a thing. Two weeks ago I noticed Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) during our drive along the prairie on Willms Road south of Knights Ferry in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I took a couple of poorly focused photographs, and posted them at the end of February. I promised to try and get better pictures next time.

So "next time" was today. We drove the road through the prairelands very slowly, and the Horned Larks weren't just "out there", they were next to the road, and they didn't flee when we pulled out the cameras.

There were males and females both. The males are the brightly colored ones. The "horns" are formed by upturned feathers behind their eyes.

The female decided to jump into the grass to show of some of the wildflowers that have started to bloom out here.

The vernal pools had been rejuvenated by the recent rains, and flowers are beginning to show up in abundance. There is such richness right now in this "normal" rain year after four bruising years of drought.

Spotted Towhee at Knight's Ferry

It's that red-eyed sparrow that I keep trying to photograph! Spotted Towhees (Pipilo maculatus) are common enough, apparently, but I mostly see them hiding and rustling around in the underbrush, and flying away if I raise a camera. But it's getting to be springtime, and the males are earnestly looking for mates, so they're spending more time out in the open, singing their hearts out.

Knight's Ferry is a historic village that has the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi River at 330 feet. The bridge is in this location because it is the last exposure of solid metamorphic bedrock along the Stanislaus River, providing a solid foundation for the structure. It's the second bridge that was built; the first was destroyed by the Great Flood of 1862.

The landscape surrounding Knight's Ferry is mostly flat and gently sloping, but along the river there are rugged cliffs. It provides a variety of habitats for birds of all kinds. Some of the spookier ones are the dozens of Turkey Vultures that like to roost in the high cottonwood trees.

Killdeer at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge

There were lots of big "charismatic" migratory birds at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge a few days ago, but there were also some very nice smaller birds who tend to be found on the refuge all year round. One of them is the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). I see them at work and in my own neighborhood, but they are pretty skittish. For whatever reason, this one didn't retreat as we drove up, and I was able to get a few close shots.

They aren't called Killdeers for any murderous proclivities. They're named for their unique call, which is a "kill-deer", of all things. It's one of the most distinctive sounds on the California prairie. The Killdeer is the mascot of the Great Valley Museum of Natural History as well.

It's a beautiful bird!

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.

Horned Lark on Willms Road in the California Prairie

I saw a bird the other day for the first time. As usual, it's not because the bird is rare, but because I'm not the most observant birder out there, with only two years of careful watching. It was a Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), a denizen of one of the most endangered of California habitats: the vernal pool prairie.

Better pictures will have to wait for another day. They were far out in the grasslands, and I was at extreme zoom. I thought we were seeing Meadowlarks, but realized that something was different about them. The Horned Larks consume mostly insects, which makes the grasslands an ideal place for them. They are found from sea level to 13,000 feet, and range across all of North America, from southernmost Mexico to the northernmost arctic barrens. Despite their adaptability, their numbers have been plummeting over the last fifty years.

The California prairie is an endangered habitat because it has been mostly converted to agricultural fields. 95% of the Great Valley is under the plow, for instance, and the less fertile lands of the Sierra Nevada foothills have been given over to grazing. The lands are for the most part are privately owned. The area we were exploring is currently being used for grazing, but tens of thousands of acres just to the west have been ripped up and planted with almond trees. The water used for irrigating the trees is coming from irreplaceable groundwater.

In these foothill environments, an impermeable clay layer prevents some rainwater from percolating underground, forming vernal pools that will persist for weeks at a time. Numerous endemic plants and animals have adapted to wet-dry environment. Animals hatch, grow and breed quickly, leaving eggs than can lie in the soil for years sometimes. Flowers have an equally quick life cycle. They were just beginning to bloom when we passed through.

Sandhill Cranes taking flight at Merced National Wildlife Refuge

I haven't mastered "birds-in-flight" pictures. There are sports settings on my camera, but I never think of them when I'm outdoors shooting at everything in sight. That being said, there were majestic things happening in the skies above the Merced National Wildlife Refuge today. 

I was at the San Joaquin NWR a few days earlier, and it seemed on the verge of empty, as if the big migratory birds like the Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese were already on their way north. I was mistaken in my perception it turns out. When we arrived at Merced, there were thousands upon thousands of geese and cranes out and about. Many seemed to be doing some flight workouts, getting ready for the big journey north that will begin very soon.

Knowing that they'll be gone soon makes every moment precious. The Sandhill Cranes are such graceful beautiful birds, and all the more so when they are soaring through the skies.

Lest the Snow Geese feel slighted, here are a few of them as well

The big northern journey begins in a few weeks. The refuges will be quieter, but other migrants from the south will be arriving to take their place. The refuge is interesting in all seasons.

Great Horned Owls on the California Prairie on Warnerville Road

It's been a rich week for birdwatching. I made it back to the Tuolumne River after a month long absence, I got out to the Beckwith Road viewing platform at the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge, and then yesterday, Mrs. Geotripper and I headed out to the California prairie and vernal pool habitat, a unique landscape in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I've ended up with week's worth of posts, including some new birds. But this moment on Warnerville Road was pretty special.

There's a spot where an intermittent creek crosses road, and there is a high terrace of volcanic tuff (the Valley Springs formation) which many animals call home. Last March I got a picture of a raccoon in one of the holes dug out the cliff, and there are usually lots of swallows and finches near by. I always watch for Burrowing Owls, but I haven't been too lucky with them yet.

It looked like someone had put a log or something in the top hole along the cliff, but I was immediately sure it was something else. When I zoomed in with the camera, I saw this extraordinary sight...

There were two Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) in there! I seen Great Horned Owls on any number of occasions, but I've never had them completely disregard my presence. I didn't even have to get out of the car to get a series of nice shots.

Great Horned Owls have one of the widest ranges of any bird in the Americas, being found as far south as Argentina and Urugway and as far north as Canada and Alaska. I've featured them twice on this blog, but not with pictures as nice as these.

I'm assuming this is a mated pair, maybe even with their chosen nest site.

I know we aren't supposed to anthropomorphize birds, but owl expressions sure seem to cover the gamut of emotions, even if they don't. I see perturbed, surprised, bored, curious, and unconcerned in these pictures.

It was a privilege to spend a few moments with them, even if at a distance.

By the way, which photograph do you prefer? I couldn't choose my favorite.