Wetland Report: Catching the Tale End of Winter at Merced & San Luis NWR

Personally, I'm not sad to see winter go.  March in the Great Central Valley is a mixed bag of late winter storms and early spring sunshine, but warmth is certainly on its way!  With the last few days of winter at hand (if a beautifully calm, sunny day of 70 degrees can be considered winter!), Eric and I paid a visit to our local wildlife refuges to have a look at the changes being wrought across the landscape.

The wetlands at Merced NWR

At Merced National Wildlife Refuge and nearby San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, the numbers of winter waterfowl have certainly decreased.  A good number of ducks and geese are still present, though.  (And there always seems to be an abundance of American Coots!)  Northern Shovelers are present in the highest numbers, but a few teals, gadwalls and wigeons are scattered among them as well.  The brilliant blue bills of the male Ruddy Ducks are beginning to show some color.

A pair of Cinnamon Teal

A large flock of Snow/Ross's Geese is still hanging around the wetlands at Merced NWR (though they were too far away to identify.)  Flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese and Cackling Geese, several hundred strong, are still present as well, mostly in the pastures and grain fields surrounding the wetlands.

Distant Snow/Ross's Geese and Sandhill Cranes at Merced NWR

A few hundred Sandhill Cranes are still here as well, their croaking calls carrying great distances on the still air.  If you haven't gotten out to see these beautiful birds yet this winter, you still have a chance!  But they won't be around much longer before they take to the skies and return to their northern breeding grounds.

Lingering Sandhill Cranes

The descending whinny of the secretive Sora and the maniacal laughter of the Pied-billed Grebe are common sounds of the late winter and early spring wetlands.  Also listen for the strange, resonate plump-plump call of the American Bittern and the incessant chattering of the Marsh Wren.

A somewhat rare glimpse of a secretive American Bittern

Check the shallows and mudflats for sandpipers and plovers.  Late winter seems to be the best time to spot elegant American Avocets feeding in shallow water.

Elegant American Avocet

Trees and stands of reeds are alive with large flocks of boisterous blackbirds: Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds are the most common, but keep an eye and ear out for colorful Yellow-headed Blackbirds and our Central Valley special, the Tricolored Blackbird.  They both sound different than their more familiar Red-winged kin, and an oddly hoarse note out of place can alert a good birder to the presence of another species.  For me, it's often much easier to pick out Tricolored Blackbirds by their song than to decide if the wing patches are fire engine red and yellow (Red-winged Blackbird) or brick red and white (Tricolored Blackbird)!

Two Yellow-headed Blackbirds hanging out with a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds.  Their hoarse calls gave them away!

Warmer weather brings out the flying insects, and flying insects bring swallows!  Migratory species like Barn, Cliff and Northern Rough-winged Swallows have returned to join our resident Violet-green and Tree Swallows.  Swallows are always a delight to watch as they perform their aerial acrobatics overhead.

Tree Swallows - for once sitting still!

Be on the look out for mammals as well!  Coyotes, mule deer, rabbits and ground squirrels were all out in force, enjoying the sunshine and fresh new growth of spring.

A pair of mule deer wade through the grasslands of San Luis NWR

Comments

  1. mollie brownMarch 25, 2019 at 12:55 PM

    Is that some little critter in the foreground of the pic of the sandhill cranes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Siera NystromMarch 27, 2019 at 12:43 PM

      Yes it is! An out-of-focus California ground squirrel surveying the grassland :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like:

Birds of the Desert: Residents & Spring Migrants

Image
Nearly everyone knows the desert as a barren, desolate land of extremes: high heat, low precipitation; little available food and water; prickly, spiny, unfriendly plants growing in a sea of rocks and sand as far as the eye can see.  But for those who stop and look closer, the desert reveals itself as the beautiful, incredible, mesmerizing place it truly is, teeming with unexpected life. Juvenile male Costa's Hummingbird visiting chuparosa blooms next to our campsite in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I particularly love the desert in the spring, when the annual wildflowers, cacti, flowering trees and shrubs are all in bloom.  (I've experienced the desert in the searing 120 degree heat of summer, and the rainy, even snowy cold of winter... and spring wins every time!)  Eric and I just returned from a week in the Colorado desert, exploring the imperiled, accidental Salton Sea (more on that coming soon), the vital wetlands of the Sonny Bono Salton ...
Read more

All The Ducks!

Image
On a recent birding trip to Merced National Wildlife Refuge, I tallied up a list of sixteen different species of ducks.  Only a few more species, around twenty in total, are expected in the Central Valley of California's freshwater marshes during the winter, so I consider that to be an excellent day for ducks! North American ducks are broadly separated into two categories, largely based on their methods of foraging for food.   Dabbling ducks , also known as "puddle ducks," tend to frequent shallow water, where they are commonly seen tipping bottoms-up to feed on plant matter and invertebrates in the water and on the muddy bottom.  They are most at home in water, but walk easily on land as well, as their legs are positioned near the center of their bodies.  The wings of dabbling ducks are relatively large, which allows them to take off from the surface of the water, straight up into their air.  Dabbling ducks almost all nest on the ground, near water....
Read more

Joshua Tree Woodlands: A Tale of Sloths, Moths and the Trees that Need Them

Image
In 1844, early California explorer John C. Fremont gave a somewhat scathing review of Joshua trees when he wrote, "...their stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveler the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom."  Rather unkind, don't you think?  But when Joshua trees were formally described by scientist William Trelease in the 1890's, he noted that Joshua Trees are "the most attractive of all the Yuccas."  I am inclined to agree with this sentiment, and must disagree most heartily with Lieutenant Fremont! I, for one, adore Joshua Trees, with their whimsical shapes and great ecological significance!  If you struggle with plant identification, the iconic Joshua tree, hallmark of the Mojave Desert, is a good place to start.  With densely spiked tufts protruding from the ends of gangly arms stretched towards the heavens, this looks like a plant straight from a Dr. Seuss book....
Read more

A Shorebird Primer: Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels

Image
For those of us living in the Great Central Valley, autumn is the time to head to the coast.  Of course, there is no bad time to visit California's magnificent coastline.  But as the heat and haze of summer drag on in the Valley, the sea becomes increasingly tantalizing: September and the onset of autumn bring sunny weather and an abundance of migratory seabirds and shorebirds to our coast. A new birder visiting California's Central Coast will undoubtedly be met with a splendid array of very confusing birds.  Among these are small shorebirds like  "peeps" (sandpipers), Sanderlings and various  plovers .  But the larger birds can be just as confusing, until you learn a few distinguishing features.  Four large shorebirds that are commonly seen (and commonly confused) along California's Central Coast are Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels. Marbled Godwit (upper left), Whimbrel (upper right), Long-billed Cu...
Read more

Birding in Adverse Weather Conditions: Wind and Rain

Image
Though I often extol the virtues and merits of winter in the Central Valley , especially when it comes to birding, the whole truth is that we experience "bad" weather also, just like anywhere else.  But even when the winter weather rolls in, the birds are still out there!  And sometimes, despite our best planning efforts, a birding day happens to coincide with crummy weather.   In that case, what's a birder to do?  Usually, we go birding anyway!   Birders far more intrepid than I regularly brave the ice and snow of northern winters to see their favorite birds, so perhaps you should look to them for real tips on winter birding!  For those of us in the valleys of California, the worst weather we see - wind and rain - is really comparatively mild.  Birding on an extremely windy day! I don't know of anyone who actually likes birding in the rain.  But I would argue that birding in the wind is just as aggravating as trying to bird in the rai...
Read more

Winter Gulls: The Great I.D. Challenge

Image
Gulls are a fun challenge for birders, from beginners to experts.  A few things make gulls an interesting study: they are large and conspicuous in their open habitats, so they are easy to see, easy to put a scope on, and easy to watch and study for long periods of time.  Furthermore, gulls are almost always identifiable as gulls; none of this confusing warbler/vireo/kinglet nonsense! And yet, gulls are almost impossibly difficult!  (Though perhaps not nearly as difficult as Empidonax flycatchers!) An intimidating scene to many a birder: a mixed flock of gulls.  I see five different species of gull here. Oh, and one American Coot in the background. One of the reasons they are so complicated is most gull species take two or three years to achieve adult plumage, and go through multiple molts in a year.  So, you may be looking at three or four gulls together that look like four completely different species, when they are actually just different ages (...
Read more