From the Contact Station December 2020

Season of Thanksgiving Continues

I am thankful that we have a refuge so close to us that we can visit it every day if we want. Like many, I have spent way too much time indoors this year, but I can run out and visit the wildlife and the wonderful scenery when I need that breath of fresh air and peaceful ambiance. It never fails that I see a familiar face when I do a drive around River S. And I often see people pausing to chat across a car width along the drive. Yes, it is something to be thankful for this year.

We have been having a bit of fog lately and it is one of my favorite weather times on the refuge. For our second goose count, the fog was hugging the ground and we had to wait an extra hour before we could start the count. When the fog lifted at 10 am, the geese came in and we could finally see them. Some of the volunteers have been counting for years; I think this is my fourth year. It is an activity that helps the refuge biologist, Alex, to better manage the food supply for our wintering geese and other waterfowl. We count the geese to subspecies, identify the field or water body they are on and the time we count them. Every goose gets counted on the ground, not in flight. If we see a collar on a Dusky Goose (a subspecies of Canada Goose), we collect the collar identification, which is a mix of three numbers, letters, or symbols. The geese, I swear, love to make it a challenge for us. They have a habit of walking away or behind other geese in the flock making exceedingly difficult to read the collar. It took me twenty minutes to get three collar identifications on the first count. The Duskies sport red collars with white lettering. Duskies are collared on their Alaska breeding grounds and the information is collected to determine how the population is doing. We do not see many, but the Cackling Geese have yellow collars.

The lakes are now filling with water and the vegetation that grew up this summer is falling into the water providing good food for swans and ducks and better views for the visitors. The swans can be seen on Rest Lake now. Since the hunt zone and River S are surrounded by dikes, the water must be pumped in, or better, provided by nature. We have had some good rains this November, so water is high now in most spots. Ideally, the lakes and ponds fill slowly allowing all waterfowl to best harvest the food there. The ducks that like shallower feeding areas get fresh areas to forage in as the water spreads into the fields. It is a moving smorgasbord for them. The swans take the deeper areas where their necks can reach the bottom of the lake.

There seems to be an increasing number of raptors to be seen on the auto tour. I had five adult Bald Eagles on my pre-Thanksgiving count day; only one young Bald Eagle on the previous count. They may be hanging out more now because there are some easier to catch wounded ducks in the area. On the first count we also started our monthly raptor survey. I had a wonderful sighting of a Peregrine Falcon on the River S. I could easily see it on a big tree in the open area to the left of the ash forest drive beyond the Kiwa gate (between numbers 9 and 10). On the second goose count, Clay sighted the Peregrine Falcon in the hunt zone. So, keep an eye out for a big raptor with pointy wings zipping by. They are here for the waterfowl too.

Finally having time to talk to Biologist Alex recently, I discovered that the short-mowed areas through Swartz field at #12 were not Nazca lines. I had puzzled over these for a while. A new trail? An easier way for the cowmen to chase stray cattle in the summer? It was a mystery to me. Since the fields have been mowed, the lines are harder to distinguish now. I found out they were created as fire breaks. You may remember last year; the Refuge staff completed a controlled burn on Bachelor Island. It went very well, getting rid of reed canary grass and heavy thatch in the burned field. This year, FWS wanted to burn part of Swartz field to help reduce thatch there too. Unfortunately, with all the fires burning in the west, there were no crews available to manage a burn here. Controlled burns require a lot of planning, equipment, and people to execute correctly. With luck, we might do one next year. It will refresh that field for the coming seasons. In addition, it is really cool to visit a field shortly after a burn like this. They can be full of birds taking advantage of the insect barbeque and seed release. Think blackbirds and meadowlarks.

My last item for this month is to announce a soon to be released updated bird list for the refuge. Working with bird survey team members and current and retired FWS staff, we have reviewed data from the last 30 years or so to determine which species have been documented on the refuge, their seasonal abundance, and nesting status. With the advent of e-bird, there was an abundance of information to review, especially for the last 15 years. So, if you are an e-birder, thank you. I am thankful for all those who contributed to make the bird list update possible.

-Article and Photos by Susan Setterberg