2020 05-27 Yolo ByPass
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There was a heatwave going on in the central valley so we decided to cool off with a trip to the Yolo bypass wildlife refuge. Even though most of the public areas of the bypass were dry, it was still a full 3° F cooler than everywhere else in the surrounding regions. We wondered what sort of wildlife we might encounter in this intense heat.
There were abundant great white egrets, a few great blue heron‘s, just a couple of Mallard ducks, quite a few red winged blackbird’s and one very light colored red tailed hawk. As common place as it may be, the highlight for us was the presence of three families of Canada geese in a large irrigation channel. Each family was led by an adult, followed by all the goslings, and then yet another adult goose serving as the caboose. Although they stayed in the water portions of the canal most of the time, once in a while they veered into the duckweed. On one occasion the three families got into a bit of a raise, with the wind passing the next one and so on.
There has been reports of river otters here earlier in the week, but we did not see any.
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Read MoreThere was a heatwave going on in the central valley so we decided to cool off with a trip to the Yolo bypass wildlife refuge. Even though most of the public areas of the bypass were dry, it was still a full 3° F cooler than everywhere else in the surrounding regions. We wondered what sort of wildlife we might encounter in this intense heat.
There were abundant great white egrets, a few great blue heron‘s, just a couple of Mallard ducks, quite a few red winged blackbird’s and one very light colored red tailed hawk. As common place as it may be, the highlight for us was the presence of three families of Canada geese in a large irrigation channel. Each family was led by an adult, followed by all the goslings, and then yet another adult goose serving as the caboose. Although they stayed in the water portions of the canal most of the time, once in a while they veered into the duckweed. On one occasion the three families got into a bit of a raise, with the wind passing the next one and so on.
There has been reports of river otters here earlier in the week, but we did not see any.
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Canada geese with goslings.
Branta canadensis with goslings in irrigation canal 2020 05-27 Yolo ByPass--003
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Canada geese goslings.
Branta canadensis goslings in irrigation canal 2020 05-27 Yolo ByPass--030
Canada goose.
Branta canadensis in irrigation canal 2020 05-27 Yolo ByPass--039
Canada goose.
Branta canadensis in irrigation canal 2020 05-27 Yolo ByPass--056
Canada geese with goslings.
Branta canadensis with goslings in irrigation canal 2020 05-27 Yolo ByPass--079
Brantacanadensiswithgoslingsirrigationcanal2020YoloByPass079
Canada goslings.
Branta canadensis goslings in irrigation canal 2020 05-27 Yolo ByPass--160
