I hope you’ve been getting out to enjoy our winter birds. It won’t be long before they start heading north again. I especially like visiting the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge because it’s relatively close to Yolo County, and it has a great platform for close viewing of a variety of ducks and geese, as well as a driving route. In most big flocks of Snow Geese, you’ll find a blue morph, which is a sub-species. Along the Pacific Flyway, 10-15% of the Snow Geese are “blue geese.”
February is here, and no rain has fallen for a month, so we’re back to drought worries. I’m the environmental representative on the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Agency’s board of directors, which has just submitted its Groundwater Sustainability Plan to the CA Department of Water Resources for review. The plan is required to document conditions and establish management criteria to avoid undesirable results regarding groundwater and identify potential actions that will maintain and/or achieve sustainable groundwater management by 2042. The good news is that the Yolo Subbasin’s groundwater is in better shape than many parts of the state, but now a framework is in place to act when conditions change.
Yolo Basin Foundation has announced that CA Duck Days will take place on April 30th this year instead of late February. The focus will be on family activities on-site, and there won’t be field trips for birding except to the Wildlife Area. Check the Foundation’s website at yolobasin.org closer to the date for details.
Ann Brice, YAS President