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Daily Bucket - A White-Faced White-Fronted Goose? [1]

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Date: 2025-02-15

I finally had a spare hour Wednesday to get out birding so I headed to the Cosumnes River Preserve. The Yolo Bypass is currently under water as recent storms sent excess water from the Sacramento River into the flood control channel where the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area is located.

I had just a few minutes to wander down the boardwalk and saw this unusual fellow right next to the walkway. My best guess is that it is a hybrid — either a possible Snow/White Fronted or a Canada/White-Fronted Goose.

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It was close to sunset and dark clouds from an incoming storm deepened the evening gloom. Driving into the area, I rolled down my windows and heard the unique vocalizations of the Sandhill Cranes. I turned the corner into the preserve and saw dozens of Sandhill Cranes settling in for the night.

Some Sandhill Cranes grab a late bite to eat as the rest settle in on the bank.

Some preferred to sleep in the middle of the pond

Closeby, a couple of hundred coots gathered on the next pond.

Some of the Coots wandered back close to the road.

Why did the Coot cross the road? To show me his long, long toes.

The ponds had far fewer waterfowl than I had seen earlier in the winter. I saw a few Northern Shovelors, Green-Winged Teals and Widgeons but I noticed the distinct lack of Northern Pintails. There were just a few White-Fronted Geese including the white-faced one I saw.

Here are some of the migratory birds still at the preserve.

Northern Shovelor pairs

Green-Winged Teals

White-Crowned Sparrow

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Audubon)

Of course we had the year-round residents:

Red-Winged Blackbird hen

Black-Neck Stilts

Great Egret with breeding plumes

I also noticed a couple of shorebirds.

Lessor Yellowlegs

Short-Billed Dowitchers with some Black-necked Stilts in the background

On the way to the preserve, I saw two Red-Tail Hawks and a Red-Shouldered Hawk sitting in trees and on fences next to the road. I also saw a Black Phoebe, Mourning Doves and Crows but couldn’t get the camera on them.

On the home front, I still have White-Crowned Sparrows, Dark-Eyed Juncos and California Towhees visiting the parrot seed leftovers that I give my chickens in my backyard.

We just had two days of rain that dropped a couple of inches into the Valley and several feet of snow on the mountains. These recent rainstorms have the rivers and creeks running higher than normal with runoff. There is some local flooding but the rivers and most of the creeks are not at flood stage. The weather is still a little variable but it looks like next week is going to be dry.

What’s up in your neck of the woods?

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