Two Spots in Woodland, 07-26-20

Up at 5:30 am and out the door with my friend Roxanne to head out to the city of Woodland by 6:00 am. It was about 61° already that early in the day, and it got up to 100° by the late afternoon.

We wanted to visit the East Regional Pond and Ibis Rookery in Woodland.  Both of them are just off Road 102, and pretty close to one another.  We’d let Greg Ira (the statewide director for the University of California’s Certified California Naturalist program) know we were coming, so he met us at the East Regional Pond after we stopped at Dutch Brothers for some much-needed coffee.  I’d never been to the pond before, so it was a fun first for me. 

The pond is a large water retention pond right across the street from the turn out to Farmer’s Central Road in the city of Woodland, CA. It’s surrounded on three sides by private property and protected nature areas. Because these areas are screened off by fences, you cannot walk all the way around the pond. There is a wide gravel trail, however, and three viewing platforms from which you can view and photograph wildlife. 

This time of year, there isn’t a lot of water in the pond, but I could definitely see the potential for future outings in the winter and spring when the rains come and the weather cools off. I really enjoyed being able to see the place.

We got to see Showy Egrets, Great Egrets, American Avocets, Black-Necked Stilts, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpipers, White-Faced Ibises, pelicans and other birds.  Many of them were in the far side of the pond, but as we walked from one viewing platform to another a handful of them sort of followed us around. 

There were little cottontail rabbits bounding all over the place.  Sometimes we’d see two or three together, running this way and that, chasing each other, stopping to munch a little bit on the vegetation. They were constant conversation interrupters.

Desert Cottontail Rabbits, Sylvilagus audubonii

We also saw about four or five Pacific Pond Turtles in the shallows of one part of the pond. They were all poking their heads up above the surface.  And when they moved around, they left a trail of mud floating behind them in the water.

Although there were gnats and midges in the air, we didn’t encounter many insects, and saw only one or two dragonflies. But we did find a large Paper Wasp nest. These wasps are usually pretty mellow, so I was able to tilt the nest up to get some better photos of it.

Paper Wasp, European Paper Wasp, Polistes dominula

The queen builds all the first cells and rears all the first offspring by herself. After that, her daughters do all the work, and she just lays the eggs. In this nest, we could see that the larvae were developing in their cells at different stages, and that some of the cells had already been sealed off. Inside the sealed cells, the larvae pupate, and then emerge as adult wasps. Here is an article I wrote about them in 2017.

After about an hour or so, we headed over to the ibis rookery.  I was assuming there would be a lot of juveniles out there by now, and I was right. There were a handful of the ibises still sitting on eggs, but most of the nests had trilling, begging, head-bobbing youngsters in them.  With their striped bills, they’re very striking.            

We also saw some Coots paddling through the water with their own youngsters behind and around them.  I hope they won’t hate me for saying it, but I think their babies are the goofiest, funniest, ugliest little things I’ve ever seen.  “Ugly Baby Judges You.”  They’re partially bald with red faces and yellow pokey-out feathers are called “ornaments”. The more ornaments a baby has, the more attention and food she’ll get from the parents.  Bling matters, apparently. Here’s an article I wrote about them in 2018.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

We were out for about 4 ½ hours round-trip.

Species List:

  1. Alkali Heliotrope, Chinese Parsley,  Heliotropium curassavicum
  2. American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana
  3. American Coot, Fulica americana
  4. American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
  5. Barn Swallow,  Hirundo rustica
  6. Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans
  7. Black Saddlebags Dragonfly, Tramea lacerate
  8. Black-Necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus
  9. Broad-leaved Pepperweed, Lepidium latifolium
  10. California Buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum
  11. California Fescue, Festuca californica
  12. California Fuchsia, Epilobium canum
  13. California Mugwort, Artemisia douglasiana
  14. California Wild Rose, Rosa californica
  15. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
  16. Carrot, American Wild Carrot, Daucus pusillus
  17. Common Bluet Damselfly, Enallagma cyathigerum
  18. Common Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
  19. Common Spikeweed, Centromadia pungens
  20. Common Sunflower, Helianthus annuus
  21. Coyote Brush, Baccharis pilularis
  22. Desert Cottontail Rabbit, Sylvilagus audubonii
  23. European Honeybee, Western Honeybee, Apis mellifera
  24. Fremont’s Cottonwood, Populus fremontii
  25. Great Egret, Ardea alba
  26. Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca
  27. Great-Tailed Grackle, Quiscalus mexicanus
  28. Green Heron, Butorides virescens
  29. House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus
  30. Killdeer, Charadrius vociferous
  31. Mallard duck, Anas platyrhynchos
  32. Mediterranean Praying Mantis, Iris Mantis, Iris oratoria [very narrow ootheca]
  33. Naked Buckwheat, Eriogonum nudum
  34. Non-Biting Midge, Chironomus sp.
  35. Northern Harrier, Marsh Hawk, Circus hudsonius
  36. Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos
  37. Orbweavers, Family: Araneidae
  38. Pacific Pond Turtle, Western Pond Turtle, Actinemys marorata
  39. Paper Wasp, European Paper Wasp, Polistes dominula [black & yellow]
  40. Pied-Billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps
  41. Red-Eared Slider Turtle, Trachemys scripta elegans
  42. Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus [nest]
  43. Ruddy Duck, Oxyura jamaicensis
  44. Saltbush, Big Saltbush, Atriplex lentiformis
  45. Snowy Egret, Egretta thula
  46. Spotted Sandpiper, Actitis macularius
  47. Steel-blue Cricket-hunter Wasp, Chlorion aerarium
  48. Swainson’s Hawk, Buteo swainsoni
  49. Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor
  50. Tule, Common Tule, Schoenoplectus acutus
  51. Variegated Meadowhawk Dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum
  52. Western Kingbird, Tyrant Flycatcher, Tyrannus verticalis
  53. White-Faced Ibis, Plegadis chihi