Subject: [Fwd: ........Down California way!!!!]
Date: Dec 30 21:15:09 2001
From: Eugene Kridler - ekridler at olympus.net


You tell them Gerry. Glad you saw the Grey Lodge Waterfowl Refuge. Too bad
you you couldn't get to the Bean Patch near the Sutter Buttes or the Colusa,
Sutter and Sacramento N.W. Refuges in the Sacramento Valley. .

If the average birder wants to see a bird or two, he should spend a couple
days in the Central Valley of California during December, January or
February. Would make his mouth water and a lister go wild.

Back in ancient Egyptian days (1955-60)when I was the FWS refuge
biologist.on the Sacramento N.W.R. Complex we used to fly the Sacramento and
San Joaquin Valleys making weekly censuses of waterfowl and waterbirds. Also
would participate in the annual midwinter census of the whole Central Valley
in cooperation with California biologists. They also had a Twin Beechcraft
plane which would take vertical aerial photos. Later one a bunch of us would
systematically count the aerial photos by statiscal sampling method under
binocular microscopes. At the end of the day we were bug eyed.

Would you believe 1.6 million ducks alone on the 560 acre Bean Patch alone.
All told we came up with over 6 million ducks in just the Sacramento Valley
in 1957. I still have copies of a number of the composite photos. One
typical 9X9 photo as an example had over 70,000 ducks on it Over rice
fields in the Colusa N.W.R. a 9x9 photo has a flock of over 65,000 Snow
Geese. There were lots more elsewhere. We used to grow rice on the refuges
to keep waterfowl off our neighbors' fields in the fall until they were able
to harvest their crops. Ducks and geese had food on the table.

Duck populations on the Sacramento N.W.R. peaked at 1,252,00 and geese
293,000 on Dec. 15, 1956. Colusa N.W. R. duck populations peaked at 492,600
0n Oct. 22 and geese at 66,000 on January 4, 1967, and on Sutter N.W.R.
ducks peaked at 532,000 on Dec.24 and geese at 72,000 on Oct.24, 1956. Those
figures are just for one fall and winter during one year..

Most waterfowl peaked on refuges while the hunting season was in progress.
When that ended, a lot of them left the refuges and scattered throughout the
Sacramento Valley. Those were the smart ones. They knew a good thing when
they had it.

And having a yearly peak population of 12 million seabirds on the Hawaiian
Islands National Wildlife in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands when I was
the refuse-er-refuge manager there 1964-73. (over 1,000,000 Bonin Petrels
alone on the Lisianski Island unit).

Ah, dem wuz de days! Memories, memories, memories.

82-year Olde Broken Down Biologist,

Gene Kridler
Sequim.


> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: ........Down California way!!!!
> Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 19:19:05 -0800
> From: Gerald Hamilton <gerald at e-z.net>
> To: "Wash. Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>
> ................If you think you see alot of waterfowl on the local
> wetlands in winter, ya' seen nothin'!!!!!
> .................Visiting my daughter and grandkids 80 miles southeast
> of Sacramento, Calif last week, and on the way back had time to drive
> and walk through Grey Lodge State Wildlife area northeast of Colusa in
> central Cal. valley. The *astronomical* numbers of wintering ducks and
> geese seen will "blow your mind away"!!!! SNOW and ROSS GEESE cover
> the ponds like snow in some ponds.( a hugh very noisy flock of Snow
> Geese taking of like a thick cloud in a truly *awesome* sight!!!).
> WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, BLACK-NECKED STILTS; YELLOWLEGS; zillions of
> REDWINGED and some TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS; COMMON MOORHENS;
> BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS; SANDHILL CRANES; AND AM. BITTERNS among the
> duck multitudes of GADWALLS , RUDDYS', and the rest----the same species
> as we see up here in winter , but "billions" more. REDTAILED and HARRIER
> HAWKS and KESTRELS around looking for a meal. WESTERN BLUEBIRDS; PLAIN
> TITMOUSE; PILEATED WOODPECKER; DOWNY WOODPECKER;WESTERN BLUEBIRDS;
> COMMON YELLOWTHROATS; WHITE-CROWNED and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS
> everywhere; NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD AND YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIES; LESSER
> GOLDFINCH AND BULLOCK'S ORIOLE; WEST. MEADOWLARKS; RUFUUS-SIDED and
> CALIF. TOWHEES among other songbirds noted that we don't see in our area
> or aren't up here in the wintertime. Flocks of HUMMINGBIRDS dining on
> the flowers of the Equlyptis tree in the yard of my daughter.
> ............3 RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS and *lots* of GREAT EGRETS, a few
> SNOWY AND CATTLE EGRETS seen along the I-5 freeway near Willows, CaliF.
> ............Due to heavy rains Thursday didn't drive around the other
> Sacramento NWR areas as plannned, but headed to the Cal. coast and drove
> north along the spectacular south. Oreg coast.(esp. between Brookings
> and Goldbeach) The tide was quite high so didn't walk much along the
> beach because of limited sand area. Did see a number of BLACK
> OYSTERCATCHERS; BLACK TURNSTONES; AND BRANDT'S CORMORANTS on the rock
> outcroppings along with scads of GULLS.
> ...........Enough.------Cheers!!!!!!
>
> ...........Gerald Hamilton
> Brush Prairie, Wash.
> gerald at e-z.net