I got up at 6:30 this morning, so I could head out with my friend Roxanne to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area. We had heard online that the Yellow-Headed Blackbirds (YHB) were starting to show up at the bypass again.

I’ve seen some juvenile and female YHBs, but they were individuals, here and there. I’ve never seen the fully mature males, which have vibrant yellow heads, and I’ve never them in flocks before. So, Rox and I decided we’d go to look for them. Then some of our naturalist friends Rachael and Karlyn said they wanted to go, too, so we told them we’d meet them over at the bypass around 8:00 am.

Rox met me at the house around 7:00 and we headed in toward Davis, stopping briefly to get some coffee and then trying to see if the Burrowing Owls were out by the ag fields. We didn’t see any owls — the fact that a woman went jogging right by where it was didn’t help –but I did catch a glimpse of a Yellowthroat and I saw my first ever Horned Lark. It was a young female, and wasn’t showing any horns (which can be raised or lowered), but, hey, it was a “lifer” for me!

We then went to the Yolo Bypass and met up with Karlyn and Rachael at the parking lot in front of the start of the auto tour route. Rox and I went in one car, and Rachael and Karlyn went in another. Rachael couldn’t stay for the whole day, so we tried to keep an eye on the clock as we went along.

We were seeing a lot of the usual suspects: sparrows, egrets, some ibises, but also saw a handsome Raven sitting on top of a post. He posed for a while before taking off. 

As we went along, though, Roxanne spotted some dark forms galloping across the road in the distance. We realized right away that they were North American River Otters, Lontra canadensis, and saw them go into a slough/ditch area by a bridge. It was hard not to just SPEED to the spot, but we didn’t want to startle the otters, so Rox drove toward them at a moderated speed.

Our sort of stealth was rewarded when we got to the bridge and found a whole raft of otters in the water. As we watched them, the otters used the large drainage pipe adjacent to bridge to move from one side of it to another; sometimes hiding from us by piling up inside the pipe. Sometimes all we saw with the rippling effect they had on the water, or the bubbles they released when they were submerged.

Eventually, the otters felt comfortable enough to come out and climb onto the levee on the side opposite from us where they shook their fur, did some grooming, greeted and rolled over one another, and even did their “poopy dance”. All the while, one or more of them would be snorting at us; low sounds, like they were grumbling about us under their breath.

We counted SIX of them for sure, and then thought we’d spotted a SEVENTH in the water… but it was hard to keep track of everyone because they were all moving about.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

I tried getting single shots of each one of them, which again wasn’t easy, in the hopes that I could maybe identify individuals later from their photos but… sorry to say, they all look pretty much the same to me. Trying to get group shots was hilarious. It was like trying to find a family photo for a Christmas card when not all of the subjects are cooperating. Some would look this way, while others looked that way, or fell out of the frame, or decided to shake their head just as the picture was snapped… Hah!

Still, what a wonderful treat! Those little guys made my day.  At that was the largest group of otters I’ve ever seen. Karlyn and Rachael were equally impressed.  Of course, I reminded all of them to log their sighting at the River Otter Ecology Project’s “Otter Spotter” site.

The other unexpected sighting was seeing some Black Crowned Night Herons day-roosting in one of the fields. There’s supposed to be a large colony of them there, but we couldn’t find them on our drive or our walk. I saw a pair of otters in the water in a field as we were going along, but they disappeared into the tules.

We never did see any of the Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, but figured that they might be foraging in another field or something. We DID get to see a Black Phoebe near a little viewing platform gathering nesting materials. They build mud nests then line the nest with fine twigs and feathers and other soft stuff.  Rox and I kind of consider the phoebes “our” birds because we see them almost everywhere we go. This one’s nest was UNDERNEATH the platform we were standing on. As long as the water level of the pond doesn’t rise too much, it should be fine there.

At that same spot, we got a glimpse of two more otters. They were fussing along the edges of the stands of tules, and then disappeared. We wondered if they had a holt in there somewhere.

As we were driving out, we flushed an American Bittern which took off flying tour left across the marsh. We had been keeping an eye out for bitterns, but didn’t see any until this one surprised us. Of course, it all happened so fast, we didn’t get any photos of it.

Between the driving and the walking out at the bypass, we were out for almost five hours!  The weather was gorgeous, the company was fun, and the animal sightings were enjoyable… A good morning all around.

Species List:

1. American Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus
2. American Coot, Fulica americana
3. American Pipit, Anthus rubescens
4. American Wigeon, Anas americana
5. Audubon’s Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata auduboni
6. Black Mustard, Common Wild Mustard, Brassica nigra
7. Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans
8. Black-Crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax
9. Black-Necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus
10. Blessed Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum
11. Brewer’s Blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus
12. Broadleaf Cattail, Bullrush, Typha latifolia
13. Brown-Headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater
14. Bufflehead Duck, Bucephala albeola
15. Bur Clover, Medicago polymorpha
16. Canvasback Duck, Aythya valisineria
17. Carrot, American Wild Carrot, Daucus pusillus
18. Cheeseweed Mallow, Malva parviflora
19. Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera
20. Cooper’s Hawk, Acipiter cooperii
21. Cut-leaved Crane’s-Bill, Geranium dissectum
22. Fennel, Sweet Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare
23. Fremont’s Cottonwood, Populus fremontii
24. Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla
25. Goodding’s Black Willow, Salix gooddingii
26. Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias
27. Great Egret, Ardea alba
28. Greater White-Fronted Goose, Anser albifrons
29. Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca
30. Greenbottle Fly, Marsh Greenbottle Fly, Lucilia silvarum
31. Green-Winged Teal, Anas carolinensis
32. Gumweed, Hairy Gumweed, Grindelia hirsutula
33. Horned Lark, Eremophila alpestris
34. House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus
35. Interior Sandbar Willow, Salix interior
36. Jointed Charlock, Wild Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum
37. Khella, Bisnaga Weed, Toothpick Plant, Bishop’s Weed, Ammi visnaga [ a kind of carrot, invasive species]
38. Killdeer, Charadrius vociferous
39. Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria
40. Long-Billed Curlew, Numenius americanus
41. Long-Billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus
42. Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos
43. Marsh Wren, Cistothorus palustris
44. Mediterranean Stork’s-Bill, Erodium botrys
45. Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura
46. Northern Harrier, Marsh Hawk, Circus hudsonius
47. Northern Pintail, Anas acuta
48. Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata
49. Paper Wasp, Black Paper Wasp, European Paper Wasp, Polistes dominula
50. Paper Wasp, Red Paper wasp, Apache Paper Wasp, Polistes apachus
51. Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum
52. Prickly Sowthistle, Pigweed, Sonchus asper
53. Raven, Common Raven, Corvus corax
54. Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus
55. Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis
56. Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus
57. Ring-Necked Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus
58. Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia [saw in the field on the drive]
59. River Otter, North American River Otter, Lontra canadensis
60. Rough Cocklebur, Xanthium strumarium
61. Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis
62. Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis
63. Shepherd’s-Purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris
64. Snowy Egret, Egretta thula
65. Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia
66. Sunflower, Common Sunflower, Helianthus annuus
67. Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor
68. Tule, Common Tule, Schoenoplectus acutus
69. Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
70. Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta
71. White Tailed Kite, Elanus leucurus
72. White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys
73. White-Faced Ibis, Plegadis chihi
74. Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata