Colusa: Falcated Duck - Anas falcata

The fabled Falcated Duck, Anas falcata, returned in early December to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. The Falcated Duck (previously called Falcated Teal) is an Asian species that occasionally wanders to the Aleutians, but rarely to the lower 48, so it's a lifer for many birders. Even in Asia the Falcated is not common, numbering perhaps 100,000 in total population. Like many of our waterfowl they breed in the far north and migrate fairly long distances to the south for the winter. The Falcated is a dabbling duck, in the genus Anas, and has no real close relatives. I've read that it is probably closest to the Gadwall, as suggested here by the shingled breast feathers. The female Falcated's call is said to be very similar to the Gadwall female's.

Here the Falcated Duck is swimming near a male American Wigeon. When we watched these ducks on December 7 it was apparent that the Falcated Duck drake had an interest in a particular American Wigeon hen and somewhat aggressively blocked the approach of any male Wigeons. The photos show that the Falcated has a brownish crown and reddish-brown cheek, and of course a stunning emerald iridescence of extending back from the eye. There is a small white spot at the base of the black bill, and a transverse black stripe on the white neck band. Not that we really need to dwell on field marks, as there really is not other bird remotely like this awesome dabbler.

As we watched, the Falcated turned and swam directly towards the viewing platform, creating a bit of a bow wave. Fortunately the camera has rapid auto-focus, as the scope has limited depth of field as it's almost impossible to keep an approaching subject in sharp focus. Note here how the sickle-shaped tertials hang out and down towards the rear. "Falcated" means "sickle-shaped".

Frontal view shows the neat shingled breast feathers, as well as the tertials and other features mentioned above.  When in the California's Central Valley in winter, make time to watch the awesome gathering of waterfowl in other preserves of the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge complex, especially the Sacramento NWP, and the state's Llano Seco unit.

Nuttall's Woodpecker - A California "Near-endemic" - Picoides nuttallii

An "endemic species" can be defined as a species found only in a defined geographic area, such as specific island, state, or country. Great discussion of California's "Endemics and Near Endemics" in Jules Evens California Birdlife, a must for your bookshelf. Jules writes of Nuttall's Woodpecker: "Nuttall's Woodpecker is essentially a bird of California's live oak woodlands, but it also breeds in Baja California and wanders very rarely to Oregon and Nevada."

We see a Nuttall's on almost every visit to Lake Solano Park along Putah Creek, and our visit on October 23rd with Rich Stallcup didn't fail to produce one. The male seen backlit in the tree was likely picking insects from the bark (they rarely eat acorns, so perhaps they will get by if Sudden Oak Death continues its relentless march). Nutall's WP, Picoides nuttallii, is also found in pines and riparian habitats. Putah Creek is in Solano County, California.

The genus Picoides is diverse, and includes the closely related Ladder-backed Woodpecker of the southwest, whose range includes southwest California, with minimal overlap with the Nuttall's. These are small woodpeckers at 7", barely larger than our diminutive Picoides, the Downy Woodpecker. The other local Picoides species is the Hairy Woodpecker, a larger version of the Downy.

You can be pretty sure of your identification of Nuttall's if you see the "laddered" black and white pattern of horizontal bars on the back of a small woodpecker in California. If you are in southeast California, say Kern County, you can tell it from the Ladder-backed Woodpecker by the large expanse of black on the upper back of Nuttall's, as shown in the second photo. There is more black on the face of Nuttall's (narrower white stripes) and the white bars on the back are said to be more narrow. Nutall's also has a very characteristic rattle call, which frequently helps you locate one.

The laddered back pattern is a common feature of many woodpecker species, and is present on the female Williamson's Sapsucker, Golden-fronted WP, Gilded WP, and the American Three-toed Woodpecker, among others.

See BNA #555, by P. Lowther.

Smew - The White Merganser - Mergellus albellus

Rather than post everyday sightings, I've elected to concentrate of some images of birds that were special for me. This splendid duck was a particularly rare and awesome sighting.

The male Smew’s dramatic visage earned it the name “White Merganser”. Smew is the smallest of the mergansers, a Eurasian species seen rarely as a migrant to our West Coast. It has been documented only 3 times in California. Lucky for some, this one stayed for 2 days on a pond at Soulsbyville, in the foothills of the California Sierra.

Mergellus is a monotypic genus. The Smew, M. albellus, is a cavity-nesting duck like the Bucephala ducks and the Wood Duck. One has to wonder if this rare vagrant was hatched in the tree nest of a Goldeneye or Bufflehead, having been “dumped’ their by a female Smew needing to lay her egg. The young Smew would then have stayed with the non-Smew brood and eventually followed them down the west coast along their usual route to wintering grounds.  Lucky for us!