FEATHERED HORDES AT SACRAMENTO WILDLIFE REFUGE

     I have been happily watching thousands of wintering geese and ducks at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in California's Central Valley during December of 2023 through a live camera and our home computer screen.  Every winter, parts of that refuge of large marshes and shallow ponds are flooded with flocks of those stately birds in spectacular, noisy pageantry that is exciting and inspiring. 

     Majestic white-fronted geese are common at Sacramento Refuge.  These western birds are dark-brown all over, each with a pink beak, yellow legs and feet, and white feathering at the base of is bill.  White fronts nest on the Arctic tundra of northern Greenland and northern Canada, but winter along the Gulf Coast and Pacific Coast.

     Having raised goslings on the Arctic tundra, blizzards of snow geese also winter at this refuge, where they outnumber other kinds of geese.  In flight, snow geese resemble a blizzard of giant flakes swirling across the sky.  When those many thousands of snow geese flutter down to water, or marshes or fields, they look like snowfalls that quickly cover the marshes and ground, making them appear white as after a real snowfall.  No matter what snow geese ae doing, they continue a constant babble of high-pitched honking, day and night, all winter.  And when these spectacular geese take flight all at once, they lift off with a roar of wings flapping and excited honking.  There are so many snow geese in those upward flights that the background features are totally obscured from view, as with drifting snow. 

     Many Ross's geese, a lovely, close relative and near look-alike species to snow geese, also winter at this Californian refuge.  Ross's often are in flocks of snow geese, but also form gatherings of their own.  Ross's geese have the same feather color patterns as snow geese, but are noticeably smaller and more petite than the snows.  And Ross's have shorter necks and stubbier beaks than snows.  Ross's nest along the Canadian and Alaskan coasts of the Arctic Ocean.  

     Cute, little groups of cackling geese also winter at Sacramento Refuge.  This species looks like Canada geese, but are much smaller and more petite.  And they have shorter necks and smaller bills.  This kind of goose, too, nests on the Canadian Arctic tundra, farther north than Canada geese, which might be why cackling geese are a distinct species.

     Handsome northern pintail ducks also winter in this refuge, and in big numbers.  These are particularly stream-lined ducks and especially swift in flight.  Drakes have long tail feathers that give the species its common name.  

     During winter, it's interesting to see four or five drake pintails courting a female at once.  And when she takes flight, they all follow her on a wild, swift flight, zig-zagging and swerving, over land and water.  And it's said that the male that keeps up with her becomes her mate the following spring. 

     Northern shoveler ducks are also abundant at this refuge.  Drakes are attractive with green heads, rufous flanks and a baby-blue rectangular of feathers on each wing.  Shovelers add to the beauty, diversity and interest of this refuge in winter.         

     All these kinds of wintering geese and ducks are vegetarians, consuming aquatic plants in the shallows of ponds, lakes and marshes, as long as the water remains unfrozen.  The geese also graze on grass and winter rye through winter.

     The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge is swamped with hordes of wintering geese and ducks.  And readers can "visit" that refuge by getting on-line with the live camera at the refuge.

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