Author Archive | Jeannette Carroll

The Lonesome Goose

By Jeannette Carroll on March 3, 2021 in BirdWords

Canada Goose with Young

The number of Canada Geese inhabiting the Sacramento River area as well as ponds and lakes in the northern Sacramento Valley seems to be increasing every year. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife affirms this with both aerial and ground counts of the species each year. Increased food supplies from grain and rice fields seem to surpass nutrients the geese can find farther south. Large lawns and golf courses are another attractant.

Canada Geese In Flight

The consistent “V-shaped” flying formations and lilting chatter of the Canada Goose is familiar to most northern California residents. Some people call these waterfowl “HONKERS” due to these vocalizations. The large size and distinctive plumage of these geese with black heads and necks and a bold white cheek patch combined with gray brown bodies and white feathers under their tails make them easy to identify. Their wingspans range from 43 to 60 inches, varying among subspecies. Some researchers estimate 4 total Canada Goose subspecies while others estimate as many as 11, grouping the 4 smaller subspecies as a separate species, Cackling Geese.

The colorization of males and females is identical in all the groups. However, the male is larger and holds his body more upright, ready to defend his mate or offspring.

Canada Geese typically nest close to water, building their nest with large mounds of vegetation such as grass or reeds and lining it with down. The female usually lays 4 to 8 eggs before she begins to incubate them. It takes from 25 to 30 days before the eggs hatch. When one sees a pair of geese with 12 to 18 goslings it is usually because another female has parasitized their nest, adding her eggs to their own.

Canada Goose On Nest

Goslings are precocial, which means they can swim, walk and feed as soon as they hatch. They are led to the water where they find grasses, tender herbs and even water insects the day after they hatch. Canada Geese are excellent parents. One adult swims in front and the other behind with a straight line of goslings between them. Both adults guard while the young feed, and when feeding is done, it’s the same routine: one parent in front and one behind with the offspring in a straight line between them. Ducklings only have the female to guard them and baby ducks tend to swim and feed helter-skelter, making them much more vulnerable to predators. Female ducks often lose many of their little ones, while geese rarely lose even one gosling.

Canada Geese with Goslings

Canada geese form strong bonds within their family unit which includes the adult pair and all of the goslings, who seem to imprint on their parents as well as all their siblings. Groups of five to twelve flying in their “V” formations are likely to be a family group from the previous year. Young geese usually do not breed until they are 2 to 4 years old.

Mated pairs of Canada Geese can be together as long as 20 years but usually find new mates if one of them dies. Last year a devoted pair of geese nested and raised five goslings on the edge of the Sacramento River just below this reporter’s house. The male guarded them fiercely, so the family prospered and all five fledged. The original pair returned the following year, but unfortunately something happened to the female, so she couldn’t fly or swim. Eventually she disappeared, likely the victim of some predator.

Canada Goose Portrait

The lonesome gander remained close to where she had been for about a week. He then joined a small flock of other geese and flew away with them. However, he returned after just 10 minutes. Another lone goose came and stayed with him for a few days and then they flew off but after about an hour he was back. This sort of thing happened repeatedly for several weeks. It was well over a month before he left for good.

Now we have a new pair of Canada Geese checking out the same nesting area. It may be our faithful lonesome goose returning with a new mate. Neither bird is banded, and they look identical. Guess we’ll never know, but we wish them luck and success.

Enjoying Red-shouldered Hawks

By Jeannette Carroll on October 29, 2019 in BirdWords

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawks have the loudest calls of any hawk species, and are probably the noisiest of all the birds of prey. One immediately knows of their presence when hearing their loud, high-pitched “Kee-yah, Kee-yah” calls while they are perched somewhere close or are flying overhead.

They are very beautiful and colorful members of the genus Buteo, with red shoulders and breasts. The black barring on their tails and wings give those body parts a checkered look. They may circle overhead with wings and tails spread out or fly in the open in their distinctive “Flap-flap-glide” flight pattern.

Red-shouldered Hawk in Flight

They feed on a variety of creatures: lizards, snakes, frogs, small mammals, crayfish and sometimes small birds. They often perch hunched over, looking for their prey to appear below, peering down so it seems they are looking at their toenails. They sit quietly until they sight their prey, then drop quickly, seizing the unsuspecting rodent or amphibian in their strong talons. A crayfish dinner requires a different approach. The hawk apparently sights the crayfish from the air and if unable to drop directly on its prey, it must wade into the shallow water. Fortunately the Red-shouldered hawk has fairly long legs for a raptor, which enables it to wade successfully to grasp the crayfish in its very strong talons.

Red-shouldered Hawk Hunting

The breeding habitat of monogamous red-shouldered hawks is usually among deciduous trees or mixed wooded areas, most often very near water. Our yard along the Sacramento River attracts this hawk species since it has tall trees and water all year long. April 2019 found a pair of these hawks beginning to build a nest in the forked branches of a very tall sycamore tree in our side yard. The female red-shouldered is noticeably larger than the male, which is true of most birds of prey. The female is built to lay eggs and brood the young and the male must be quick enough to capture food. Both sexes share the nest-building duties, bringing sticks and moss to the chosen nesting site. The female usually lays from 3 to 4 eggs in the nest and begins sitting on the eggs after the first egg is laid, so hatching is “asynchronous.” The first chick may hatch a week before the last.

Red-shouldered Hawk Pair

Hatchlings may be brooded almost constantly by the female for several weeks with the male providing most of the food for her and the young. Our red-shouldered hawk nest was so high in the tree that we did not know when the chicks hatched, and it was a while before we saw the fuzzy, fluffy young peering over the edge of their nest. We saw only two young with their curved and large bills. We kept our spotting scope on the nest constantly but it was 50 feet+ up in the sycamore tree. The late afternoon sun made the hawklets pant so we were glad when they declared their independence on July 4th and began exercising their wings by flying high up from tree to tree. We could tell when Mom and Dad fed them as they approached with their loud “Kee-aah kee-aah” cries.

Red-shouldered Hawk Nestling courtesy of Frank Kratofil

Under the hawk nest and around our yard we began finding “hawk pellets”. We knew owls regurgitated undigested parts of their diet such as feathers, bones and fur but we learned something new when hawk pellets began showing up. Almost every pellet contained some undigested part of a crayfish such as a small pincher or reddish colored shell.

Researchers find that hawk pairs use the same nest year after year simply by adding more nesting material and making it ready for another family. We hope this happens with our red-shouldered pair.

Eclipse of the Ducks

By Jeannette Carroll on August 25, 2018 in BirdWords

Mallard Drake in Eclipse Plumage

When most people hear the term “eclipse” they think lunar or solar. But those familiar with waterfowl understand the term might refer to the feathers, or plumage, of a duck or goose.

Mallard Female

All birds molt, a process of dropping old feathers and growing new ones. The new feathers keep the birds in good shape for flying, keeping warm, and sometimes for breeding showiness. By the end of summer the bright feathers of spring might be difficult to recognize. Many birds molt in the fall to replace worn plumage, and then again in spring to acquire their most alluring outfits.

Mallard Pair in Breeding Plumage

But waterfowl—ducks and geese—choose their mates earlier than songbirds. Ducks usually pair up by late fall, and cannot wait until spring to dress up. Male ducks, in particular, have gorgeous plumage, but in late summer all the males seem to disappear. The Sacramento River gains a steady supply of feathers floating downstream, and no male ducks are to be seen. The beautiful shining green heads of mallards vanish. The ornate wood ducks and brilliant male mergansers can’t be seen anywhere. Suddenly there seem to be many female ducks along the river, but no colorful males of these common year-round species.

Mallard Drakes in Eclipse Plumage

There’s a scientific reason. Most birds lose a few feathers at a time, replacing them piecemeal without seriously disrupting their lifestyle. But ducks shed all of their outer feathers when they molt, including their wing feathers. For a few weeks, they become flightless. Males acquire the same camouflage as the females, a useful protection while they cannot fly. An observer can distinguish a male mallard at this time only by his slightly larger body and large, yellow bill, in contrast to her orange and black bill. Males at this hapless stage tend to gather in small groups and skulk along shores with reeds and grasses, laying low until new flight feathers develop. After those new wing feathers grow back the males enter a second molt into their bright breeding plumage. The second molt is less severe, and the ducks retain their ability to fly and escape from predators. All of this happens in timely fashion—in the fall, just before the duck dating season opens.

Wood Duck Pair in Breeding Plumage

Female mallards, wood ducks, and mergansers are always attired in camouflage, so they only molt once—but again, it is in time to have fresh feathers for understated attractiveness when the males come looking.

Geese also molt in the fall, but they usually mate for life, and seem to dress for long-term health and beauty rather than for just a brief courting period. They do not molt all their wing feathers at once, so, although briefly disheveled, they retain the ability to fly.

Wood Duck Drake Preening

Ducks and geese can often be seen preening their new feathers. They have oil glands on their rumps, which supply the waterproofing that they spread over their sleek contour feathers. The feathers have small barbs that lock their parts together, and combing them helps keep the birds smooth, warm, and attractive. Waterfowl instinctively know how important their feathers are, and do the work to maintain them.

Wood Duck Pair in Eclipse Plumage

Webster defines “eclipse” as to obscure, leave out or fail. He discusses the partial or total obscuring of one celestial body by another, making one seem less brilliant, but he makes no mention of the less brilliant plumage of male ducks in the fall. Ornithologists, however, have studied the annual phenomenon extensively. Eclipse plumage allows ducks to quickly molt into fresh breeding feathers. Understanding it solves the mystery of the disappearance of the male ducks.

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Author Archive | Jeannette Carroll