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The Daily Bucket. August Report from Dellinger's Pond, Quincy, CA [1]

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Date: 2022-08-15

Great Blue Heron (juvenile), about to land in the little bit of "open" water still left at Dellinger's Pond this time of year. I find it a blessing of nature that these magnificent birds live right here where I do and that I get many good opportunities for sightings and photos.

Over the course of a few days around mid-August.

The pond is nearly completely dry now of any significant standing water, although there is a small trickle of fresh water constantly coming in, from an underground seep as best I can tell. I’ve been keeping a very regular watch on the pond as the year has progressed, perhaps because it’s so close by and truth be told, it’s the best wetland and about the only wetland around where I live that I can access any time I want. It is an official biological preserve, left to nearly total non-intervention by humans, waxing wild during spring and summer and waning to near complete dormancy through the winter. In other words, hey, what a place, and 99.9% of the time when I visit I’ve got it all to myself.

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns. We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.

Reference photos for the past four months:

April

May

June

July

That last photo was taken on July 23. We have not had any rain excepting a sprinkle or so since the middle of April. The change in the pond in just the past three weeks is what I would call dramatic.

August 5

August 13; yesterday as I write this diary. View is looking west.

See that little water course in the lower part of the above two photos? That’s the fresh water inflow, which comes down into the pond from an underground hillside seep, out of picture to the left (from the south). Here’s the actual visible entry, and I know there is no culvert feeding this because I’ve looked.

A fuller view of the water course as it follows around the east-to-north contour of the pond dike:

As stated, the pond and the dike is allowed to grow wild, which makes for a tromp for me to get along the dike path.

There does exist a trodden path going up through the flowers and into the trees beyond. This is just inside the entrance to the pond.

There was something new from since the 5th, I gotta say. BEAR SCAT TRIGGER ALERT.

Glove shown for scale. This pile was just a few feet off the main roadway where the entrance to the pond is. I was cautious as I entered into the dike path, although I think this load was at least a day or two old.

More inside the pathway. Ol’ Bear, getting her/his roughage, heh heh.

Bear scat, with household garbage inclusive. Even though there’s wild cherry pits that shows the bear has been feeding from the trees, obviously it’s been raiding human-sourced refuge also. Bears be opportunists that way, as y’all know.

And, relieved I am to say, there was no bear awaiting ahead of me. I ain’t sure I could back-peddle fast enough if I was to encounter a bear in the tangled foliage of the dike path.

Lots of Steller’s Jays, Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, and the occasional hummingbird and others, I see nearly every time there this time of year. Man oh man, I missed what could have been my best-ever hummingbird shot, just a few feet away from me, the sunlight was perfect, the hummingbird was dazzlingly colorful, and was hovering, getting some nectar from a wild sweet pea flower. I raised my camera (I was sitting in my field chair) and the bird was gone. I kept a watch on that flower, hoping the bird would return, but I guess the flower was dry because the hummer never returned. Ah, well, always tomorrow.

I also spotted a very brilliant yellow but very small bird on several occasions, flying very fast across my vision, but it never landed anywhere. I really can’t even hazard a guess as to which species. The one “easy” subject, however, has been very photo obliging for me. Great Blue Heron (juvenile):

In the bill and heading over the tongue...

..yummy yummy in the tummy it’s done.

Still hanging around the next day (August 14), a short-hop flight for my lens:

So now I’m thinkin’, since this GBH seems to be making Dellinger’s pond its home for at least the time being, maybe I ought to give it a name. Ah but, is it a her or a him? Didja know, it ain’t easy to tell?

Great Blue Heron Appearance If you spot any great blue herons, you may need to look closely to distinguish the males from the females. Males are slightly larger, usually coming closer to the high end of their length range, around 54 inches, whereas females may be nearer the low end, at roughly 38 inches long. Males also have larger beaks than females and may have some puffy plumage on the backs of their heads. Great Blue Heron Mating and Nesting Behavior If you observe great blue herons during their mating and nesting season, you may spot some behaviors that will help differentiate the sexes. While males and females both take part in an elaborate mating ritual, there are some differences in their roles. Males make their way to the nesting site first and gather materials with which to make a nest. They then present these materials to the female, who alone weaves them into the form of a nest. --animals.mom.com

Since this GBH is keeping to itself and there’s no mating ritual or nesting, there’s no way for me to be certain. I need a gender-neutral name, so I did some searching, and I’m going with Harper. How’s that strike you?

August 15, 2022

Here’s Harper, from early this morning:

Back on the 13th down at the pond I had an idea, but by the time I got the idea it was too late to put into action. That was to take a time lapse of the sunlight as it just lit up the mountains and “crept” down onto and across the pond. So yesterday I went to do just that. D’oh! I got there too late. Hey, gotta get there earlier, which I did this morning. I had no idea how it would turn out, and I was a bit surprised by just how “fast” it actually goes. This is twenty-five minutes lapsed into eleven seconds. The “sunfall” as I call it sure is a quickie, but this is definitely a first for me. Here ya go:

Now It's Your Turn.

What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.

Thank you.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/15/2116562/-The-Daily-Bucket-August-Report-from-Dellinger-s-Pond-Quincy-CA

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