Burrowing Owl on the California Prairielands at Willms Road

The California prairielands used to extend in an unbroken band across the lower reaches of the Sierra Mother Lode and the four-hundred mile long Great Valley. Today 95% of the prairie has been plowed or paved over, and much of the rest has been preserved intact only because ranchers use the land for grazing. Such is the case for the Willms Ranch area south of Knights Ferry on the Stanislaus River, and east of Oakdale. It's privately owned, but the grasslands stretch for miles, and a handful of country roads provide access. It's a favorite spot for Mrs. Geotripper and me to go birding.

The funny thing about today's trip is an ongoing joke (but not really a joke) where I insist that this is the day that I'm finally going to see a burrowing owl and get pictures. I saw a Burrowing owl out there perhaps a decade or two ago, and we can't pass the spot without looking for another. But we never saw one again, despite birder reports of their presence in the area. Until today, that is.

I stopped as I always do at one of the ephemeral creeks that crosses the road, and I inadvertently flushed out a bird that I didn't immediately recognize. It was larger than any of the sparrows or meadowlarks we had been seeing, but was too small to be a hawk. I kept an eye on the bird and saw it land in the distance under an alcove. It was a hundred yards or more away, so the chances of seeing anything weren't great, but I upped the zoom and scanned the alcoves, and there it was: a Burrowing Owl!

The pictures aren't of my preferred quality, but they were enough to confirm the bird's identity. The Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) range the length of the western United States all the way into South America. They prefer open grasslands, and their population has suffered as the grasslands have given way to development, either of the orchard kind, or the urban kind. Their name comes from their preference for burrows, either excavated by themselves, or the various other denizens of the prairie.

So next time, I'm going to be more careful about scaring birds! Maybe there will be some clear shots...

House Wren Defending a Nest Site on the Tuolumne River

It's spring in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and life should be exploding along the Tuolumne River where it flows into the Great Valley of California. But this isn't a normal year. We've been suffering through five years of the worst drought ever recorded in the state, but this year was the polar opposite. We've had near-record precipitation, the mountains are coated with deep drifts of snow, and the rivers are swollen with runoff.

The impressive runoff is a positive development in so many ways, especially for the agricultural economy downstream, and most ecosystems, from the alpine meadows to San Francisco Bay. But there is one ecosystem that is getting adverse effects: the Tuolumne River floodplain. The problem is the presence of Don Pedro Reservoir upstream. It filled early in the season, but the flood-producing rains of January and February caused lake levels to rise too high, and the dam threatened to run over in an uncontrolled fashion. In response, water has been released from Don Pedro at or just above flood level ever since January 4. This means that the floodplain, an important habitat for uncounted animals and plants, has been underwater for nearly three months, and the prospect exists that it will continue to be flooded until well into the summer. I saw evidence of this last month on the lower reaches of the river where hundreds of rabbits were trying to subsist on the bit of grass growing on the river levee. Their normal home was under ten feet of water.

Under normal circumstances, the floodplain ecosystem is superbly adapted to flooding events, but a six-month long continual flood is not something that happens in nature. Tree roots are inundated, soil and plant seeds are washed away, and the river is likely to change course in many places. The loss of hundreds or thousands of acres of river bottomlands has to be having a detrimental effect on the wildlife of the river. I've noticed a relative lack of bird activity, and some of my walks have been come up empty in the photograph area.

I'm happy to say that activity picked up a bit today as I wandered through the oak woodland. I saw half a dozen small songbirds in the branches, although I had a hard time catching photos of most of them. But one kept coming back to the same perch on a dead snag. I got a fair number of sharp pictures, and then I noticed the hole in the trunk of the tree with a head peeking out. The bird, a House Wren (Troglodytes aedon), seems to have been defending a nesting hole. I'm pretty sure it was the bird I saw driving several others into the underbrush before returning to its perch and singing.

House Wrens are common birds, and their range extends from the south end of South America to southern Canada. They can also live in a wide variety of habitats, from sea level to alpine elevations. It once again tells me that my observation skills still need some work, because this is the first one I've seen on the Tuolumne River (although I saw a Bewick's Wren there last year).

The House Wren has a pretty call. I took a video of the wren singing, although you'll have to turn up the sound. I was a fair distance away, using extreme zoom to get the video. Enjoy!

The Last Stragglers at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge: Greater White-fronted Geese

I made one last quick visit to the Beckwith Road viewing platform on the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge this week. It's closed now, with the quite fair reasoning that no one is left to view! The many thousands of Sandhill Cranes, Cackling Geese, Snow Geese, and Ross's Geese have "flown the coop", heading back north to the Arctic for the summer season. The platform was closed, but the road follows the boundary of the refuge, and as I was leaving I saw the last stragglers, a half dozen Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons). I can practically see their thinking process..."Two thousand miles? Really? Surely this place isn't THAT bad during the summer. Maybe we'll hang around..."

More Signs of Spring: Tree Swallows Nesting at Two-Mile Bar Recreational Area

One of the surest signs of spring is the return of the swallows from their winter sojourn in the tropics. There are a number of swallow species in the Great Valley, but one of the earliest to arrive is the Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor). Like most swallows, they chase and consume insects, but the Tree Swallow can utilize other food sources if insects aren't yet abundant.

The Tree Swallows nest in the hollows of tree trunks, but are well-known for utilizing nest boxes. That's where we found the swallows last weekend. Two-Mile Bar Recreational Area is a rafting take-in site on the Stanislaus River between Knight's Ferry and Jamestown, downstream of the monstrous New Melones Reservoir and Tulloch Lake. Nesting boxes have been placed on the property boundary fences a few dozen yards apart for most of the length of the access road.

There was plenty to see of the emerging signs of spring, including the early blooming wildflowers like the Ithuriel's Spears in the picture above (the bees were certainly happy), and the intense green of the grasses and oak trees growing on the volcanic rocks of the Mehrten Formation above the Stanislaus River.

Horned Lark in the California Prairielands near Knights Ferry

With the first days of spring, we are starting to explore the Sierra Nevada foothills and what's left of the California prairie in the eastern part of the Great Valley. On Saturday we were in the Red Hills, seeing many flowers but few birds, but then we headed down to Willms Road out of Knight's Ferry, a backroad providing access to the many ranches in the foothills. There's a stock pond that we like to check out every so often, and along the way we ran across several Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) sitting on fenceposts and searching in the grass for tidbits of food.

In case there's any doubt about why they are called "horned" larks, the post-sitting bird turned his head and showed us the upturned feathers that give him his name. The Horned Larks are common birds, but fewer in number than they used to be (perhaps only 30% of their numbers fifty years ago). A likely suspect could be loss of habitat, either to development or to reforestation efforts.

It was a beautiful day on the prairie, perhaps the prettiest kind of day we get all year out here. It's been a wet year, finally, the grass is thick and green and the usually dry waterways are flowing. The foothill rock layers are composed of volcanic mudflows and ash deposits bespeaking a violent origin, but today all was serene.

Great Blue Heron on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon

It's a rainy day outside, so no walks along the river today, and it's been a few weeks since a birding trip, so I didn't have a lot of new material. I was going over some older pictures when I found a few bird shots taken during the greatest adventure of my life, a 17 day rafting trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. It was in August of 2013. I wasn't exactly birding at the time, but I was keen to observe any living things along the river as we floated along. On the third day out we passed a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) lurking in the grasses and sand along the riverbank.

The Herons are such stately creatures, and it seemed extra special to see one in such a dramatic setting. We were a mile or two downstream from Vasey's Paradise, a spot where small waterfalls burst out of the canyon walls. We were in the Redwall Limestone, a layer that is riddled with caverns and fissures. When exposed along the river, the groundwater flowed freely at the surface

Western Kingbirds arriving in California: San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

One can tell when spring is coming around here in California's Great Valley. There's the greenery, of course, but (sorry, snowbound friends) it tends to be green most of the winter, the grass anyway. The real signs of spring are the comings and goings of the migratory birds. The geese and cranes are getting ready to start their long flights north to the Arctic while other birds, the tropical species, start moving in to spend the summer here.

One of the tropical birds is the Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis). They spend the winter in southern Mexico and Central America, but spend the summers in western North America, with a few going as far as southern Canada.

Our excursion to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge a week ago included several sightings of  Kingbirds. The sun was on the wrong side for sharp pictures, but I was pleased with the backlit shot above of one taking off. I'm sure we'll have several more opportunities this summer!