Snow Geese and Crepuscular Critters, 11-12-19

A long day. Up at 4:30 am to go out with my dog Esteban to the Sacramento and Colusa National Wildlife Refuges. This was the first long drive I’ve taken him on since I adopted him, and I wasn’t sure how he’d do. For the first part of the trip, he whined on and off, like a kid in the backseat groaning “are we there yet”, or something. But otherwise he was good in the car, for the most part.

Esteban. I’ve had some folks ask what kind of dog he is. I’m not sure, because he’s adopted and I don’t know much about his background, but I think he’s a Chihuahua and Dachshund mix with maybe a little Jack Russell Terrier in there. Anyone want to pay for an DNA test for him?

We got to the Sacramento refuge first around 7:00 am just as the sun was rising. It was about 45º when we started on the auto tour route. There was a hazy overcast that lasted all day so there weren’t any stark shadows; the light was diffused.

I wanted to go early to see some of the “fly in” and also to get a chance to see some of the crepuscular animals that generally aren’t out later in the day – like coyotes, otters, raccoons, deer and the like. Good thing I did! I got to see all of those except for the otters (but I did find an otter “latrine site” if that counts.)

There are still a LOT of dry areas in both preserves… and the migrating birds are coming in, so they’d better start getting more water out there or the birds will go somewhere else.

Along the auto tour route at the Sacramento refuge, one of the first things I saw was the backside of a deer poking out between the tules. When I got a little closer, I realized it was one of four deer (looked like two does and a pair of older fawns). They were close enough to the car that I was able to get a few photos of them before they took off. Esteban could see them but didn’t seem to recognize or startle at them. He just sniffed the air.

Then, a little further down the route, I saw something big standing on the shoulder of the road in front of me. It was backlit by the rising sun, but I thought it was probably a coyote (albeit a large coyote) or maybe a Mountain Lion… Turned out to be a coyote. When I got closer to the place where it was standing, it took off along the mowed areas between the stands of tule. Got a lot of “butt shots” of that guy, but nothing really good.

Coyote, Canis latrans

Further along still, near the gate to the permanent wetlands loop (which is closed this time of year), there’s a 4-way crossing where the wetlands and sloughs abut one another. Along the edge of the road there, I could see something “dark” tuck in near the slough. When I got closer, I was surprise to find that the “dark” was actually two raccoons!

Raccoon video snippet: https://youtu.be/aaN83GKU204

They were wet up to their shoulders with water and climbed up near the road again, right next to the car, to shake off. It was then that I was able to get photos of them before they realized a human was looking at them, and they waddled away into the undergrowth. I hardly ever get to see the raccoons out there, and when I do, they’re usually really far away, so it was quite a treat to be able to get a view of them so close. Racoons are usually solitary animals, so I was kind of surprised to see two together. Maybe it was a mom and her teenaged kid.

There were no eagles out today, but a lot of hawks: Red-Tails, Red-Shouldered and Harrier. And, of course, Snow Geese were there in abundance. Literally thousands of them. They were soooo noisy you could hear them all over the place.

Snow Geese in flight video #1: https://youtu.be/04qTdiPW3YE
Snow Geese in flight video #2: https://youtu.be/qTXfRGZ5dYM
Snow Geese in the Water video: https://youtu.be/4OalP_1KiYI

At one of the park-and-stretch sites along the route, I let Esteban out on his leash, and he was totally freaked out by the geese near the road, especially when parts of the flock took off in tandem, honking loudly and flying in circles. I don’t know if he recognized them as “birds”, but he did not like that noisy whirling mass bursting up in front of him and flying overhead.

I also saw quite a few Turkey Vultures. In one of the trees where a couple of vultures were sitting there was also a Peregrine Falcon. It looked so tiny next to them. No doubt, the vultures were sitting around waiting for the falcon to catch something so they could have the leavings. Raptor co-op.

Oh, and I also spotted a pair of Great Horned Owls in a tree along the route. They were pretty obscured by twiggy branches, so I didn’t get any real good photos of them, but it was still great to see them.

There were quite a few different sparrow species out today, and I saw a handful of Western Meadowlarks. Those populations will increase over the next few months.

At the Colusa refuge, it was pretty much the same as it was at the Sacramento refuge with the landscape currently dominated by thousands of Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese. One surprise though was when I was driving the auto tour route there, and a large three-point buck came walking out from among the tules. Yikes! That was unexpected.

Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

The last time I was at the Colusa refuge, I was lamenting because I didn’t see as many Black-Crowned Night Herons at the end of the route as I had on previous occasions. Usually, there’s 30 to 50 herons out there. The last time I was out, I only saw about a dozen. Today, I saw few more, and some of them were occupying the trees near the one-way bridge, so I felt a little better. They apparently hadn’t been completely displaced and found new day-roosts to occupy.

Black-Crowned Night Herons, Nycticorax nycticorax

Among the other birds, I also saw a White-Faced Ibis, a couple of Pied-Billed Grebes, a Common Gallinule and an American Pipit while I was there.

Before leaving the Colusa refuge, I stopped at the picnic tables with Esteban and we had a little lunch before heading home again. We got back to the house a little after 1:30 pm so that was a l-o-n-g 8- or 9-hour day in the car for the dog and me.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.