A friend and I decided to see what wildlife refuges looked like in the summer. In the winter they have large ponds full of migratory geese and ducks. We wanted to see who stuck around during the summer heat.
We headed first to Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. At my last visit in January, there were plenty of ducks and geese and all the ponds were full of water.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
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This time the ponds were bone dry. The observation deck looked over a grassy field. The ducks and geese were long gone but there were still plenty of birds and other critters as well.
Let’s see who enjoys the summer heat:
Here are a few more of the year round residents:
After a leisurely lunch at Granzella’s, a landmark deli in Williams, we headed to a new spot we had heard about. The Cache Creek Nature Preserve is managed by a local non-profit. The refuge is riparian oak forest and grasslands next to the creek and includes a former gravel pit turned into a year round pond. There are several miles of trails a number of them ADA friendly, a boardwalk into the pond and an observation deck overlooking the pond.
We saw a few birds but agreed this would be a great place to visit in the late winter/early spring. We also saw a volunteer checking a few of the nest boxes scattered around the pond. She let us know that several of the boxes held baby tree swallows and they were carefully monitoring them.
Finally our last stop was another look at the Yolo Bypass. Most of the plowed fields are now planted with rice seedlings and covered in several inches of water. So the few waterfowl in the area are paddling in the paddies.
There were a number of marsh birds living inhabiting the natural area.
I looked up in the skies to see a little Red-winged Blackbird attacking a Raven. This went on for at least a couple of minutes all the way across the nature area.
Summer has hit here full force. We just suffered through 3 days of 100+ heat including a record tying 109 degrees on Saturday and Sunday. So I am looking forward to temps cooling to the mid 80s by the end of this week.
Happy Fourth of July everyone. I hope you all have a safe and fun celebration.