(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Daily Bucket - The Calm Beautiful Day Before the Storms! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-05 Water droplets glitter in the sun on a Northern Shoveler at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge I didn’t get a chance to bird at all in the month of December. Between a car breakdown, catching COVID, traveling for the holidays and several days of rain, December slipped away. So when I heard that January 1, 2023 was going to be a sunny day, I immediately made plans to head out. I suggested to Mr. CB that we go to Cosumnes River Preserve. 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. Then I saw this: Twin Cities Road and Franklin Blvd. underwater — the preserve is to the right of the submerged road. Rio Cosumnes Nature Preserve was totally underwater. So I hit I-5 and headed north to Colusa NWR. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temps were in the high 50s. But there was a strong cold wind and by early afternoon, light clouds started drifting in. The ponds at Colusa with the snow topped Trinity Alps in the background I was surprised that the number of birds was rather sparse. The last time I visited, there were twice as many birds. Some of the ponds had been filled to the brim with Snow and Ross’s Geese last year. I only saw a couple of small flocks First, I wandered out to the observation deck and checked out the residents. This first pond usually held at least 3 times the number I saw on Sunday. A Killdeer stands in the middle of sleeping ducks — Widgeons, Shovelors and Pintails A small flock of Black-Necked Stilts (lower right) joins sleeping Pintails, Shovelors and Widgeons as White Fronted Geese feed in the background. White Fronted Geese fly in to join the rest of the flock eating and resting. I headed toward the auto tour route where I could see the more birds. A Ruddy Duck traverses the choppy wind blown waters. A flock of Red Winged Blackbirds photobomb when I was zooming in on a shovelor pair. See the red dots? Gadwall pair I believe this is a Ruby Crowned Kinglet. Another blurry photo showed the eye ring and white markings on the wings. I believe this is a California Towhee. Small flock of Snow and Ross’s Geese. Can you see the pair of Ross’s? Buffleheads on the open water Black Phoebe perched on the edge of one of the ponds Turkey Vulture landed close to me and posed nicely for his glam shot. Great Egret gets ready to strike. Great Blue Heron had his eye on something and stayed perfectly still for several minutes. A dozen Black-Crowned Night Herons sleep in a rookery. There were at least 30 scattered in the trees along the bank of a slough. A Snowy Egret stands between two sleeping Night Herons in the rookery. California Towhee in the parking area next to my truck An LBB — I have no clue on the ID for this bird. White Crowned Sparrow in the grass. Dozens of birds were feeding in the fields surrounding the entrance. Wild turkey rummaging in the brush Western meadowlark one of a small flock feeding in the fields Mourning doves We headed to Yolo Bypass Nature Area on the way home. The auto tour road was a little muddy due to the New Year’s Eve storm that dropped a couple of inches of rain the day before. Once again, the ponds were very empty. I usually see a lot of raptors sitting in the trees but only saw the silhouette of a hawk in the distance and a harrier doing a quick run. Empty rice paddies should have lots of birds. The I-80 viaduct is the bridge in the background and way in the back are the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains about 80 miles away. One of the few ponds with a variety of ducks. Cinnamon teal pair Western meadowlark feeding. I also saw lots of coots, some additional buffleheads and a couple of egrets. After bright sunshine on Sunday, the rest of the week has been dark, showery and overcast. As I write this, we are expecting a bomb cyclone to hit with heavy rain and high winds. Rain is expected for at least a week. The governor held an emergency press conference urging everyone to prepare for a series of bad storms. He outlined the steps the various state agencies were taking to handle potential flooding and storm damage including opening the weir gates to the bypasses. He recommended getting emergency supplies and suggested limiting travel. It was nice to see good government at work. Our local governments have also been pro-active, making sandbags and other supplies available, opening shelters for the unhoused and activating the emergency text system. I’m hunkering down. Cleared the yard of potential problems and tarped the chicken coops so my little girls stay dry. What’s up in your neighborhood? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/5/2145058/-Daily-Bucket-The-Calm-Beautiful-Day-Before-the-Storms Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/