Our lack of rain in California this winter sucks. By now the mountain tops should be covered in snow, and the lower elevations would be greening up nicely. Instead, it's brown and dry from ocean's edge to the spine of the Sierra. The only upside is that it is kinda nice to have a clear, sunny day for winter birding. We took advantage of that yesterday and made a trip to Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, just west of the Sutter Buttes.
As some of you know, there is a duck there.
Now, there are actually thousands of ducks there... tens of thousands, even. Coots, too, of course. And geese. Good lord are there geese - Canada, Cackling, Snow and White-fronted. Skeins overhead all day.
It was beautiful as we approached the refuge.
The ducks were plentiful and lovely - Pintails, teal, gadwalls, shovelers, wigeon - remarkably plentiful, remarkably close. I'm sure the dry conditions in the valleys helped concentrate them further in the refuge, since there isn't as much water in the fields. We had great looks at many of them, like this pair of cinnamon teal sunning at the water's edge.
But, handsome as they are, these weren't the main anatid attraction - we came to see an unexpected visitor from Asia, a Falcated Duck.
We got to the refuge and started gathering our stuff, and my point-n-shoot camera was nowhere to be found. That's what I use for digiscoping, which is my best option for getting a decent picture of more distant birds, at least when they're mroe or less sitting still. (I know, first-world problem...) I still had my SLR, so I wasn't without options entirely, but I really did want the close-up zoominess from the scope, so I tried a few with my phone. Not the best (it looks rather washed out and not super sharp) but... not horrible. There will be a better looking one at the end of the diary for you to enjoy.
This bird was not just a bump on a log. He was out there mixing it up with the others in grand style. Maybe they though he looked like a foreigner, or they were defending their women-folk, but the wigeons were really giving him a hard time. He gave it right back to them, though.
During the lulls in the action, there were plenty of other birds in the marsh to keep us busy. As I said, lots of geese, with white-fronted being the most abundant, and several hundred ducks.
The geese were amusing. Fights kept breaking out in front of us, with lots of squawking but no one really getting seriously physical. When the squabbles were done, they'd revert to the serious business of looking for food.
Some of the ducks came very close, and allowed nice observation as they foraged in the muck. There was also a moorhen hanging out; a bird I really like and rarely see. (I guess they're properly called Common Gallinule now, but old habits die hard.) Although I'm partial to gadwalls, I have to agree with my friend that a pintail really is a sharp-looking bird.
We spent an hour or so with the Falcated Duck and friends. Before we leave them, here are a few images, courtesy of Walter Kitundu. He'll have more at his website, BirdLightWind, in a week or so (he's currently running a series of photos from his recent trip to Tanzania - worth a look!). Now you can see the duck in its true, glorious color.
Walter's not just responsible for these photos, by the way. The title was from a little joke he made: Wanna take a look at the Falcated Duck? Don't mind FaDu.... (For anyone who actually got that without explanation, congratulations. I could add "get a life", but of course I thought it was great, so...) Anyway...
A peaceful moment between species - a nice compare and contrast with a wigeon:
After leaving the viewing area, we headed out on the auto tour loop. The birds were a bit more distant here and you're not allowed to get out of the car so photography was harder. One young redtail cooperated and perched in a tree just above the levee, though.
We finished our tour and grabbed a bite of lunch in Colusa. The restaurant manager was reaping the benefits of putting up a billboard just outside the refuge shortly before the duck showed up... talk about perfect timing. We headed south and decided to visit Solano, one of our favorite birding areas in the winter, but the dry weather translated to very few birds, especially the raptors that the area is known for. We made a quick foray to Grizzly Island in hopes of seeing a short-eared ow, and were rewarded instead with finding dozens of harriers and kites hunting during the fields as dusk fell. A beautiful end to a wonderful day.