Duck may have been 5,500 miles off course
A duck so rare to California that some believe it might be an imported exotic pet was sighted and photographed last week at Clear Lake.
Rick Timmer looked out from his vacation home and amid a dozen mallards, saw one duck he didn’t recognize, and then photographed it with his cell phone.
It was a large goose-like duck with a dark head, white collar, brown ring at the shoulders, and then white body with black wings and tail feathers.
Timmer sent the photo to me to identify the fowl: It was a European shelduck.
If a wild duck, it was roughly 5,500 miles off course from its home in Europe. Such a shelduck favors the Wadden Sea on the coast of Germany and Ireland, where it is common and single flocks can approach 100,000, according to several birding books.
“I threw out some bits of bread and all these ducks come a-running,” Timmer said. “There was this one hanging out with a bunch of local mallards.”
When the bird was identified as a shelduck, Timmer, was astounded. “If it is a migrant, it would be a long way from home,” he said. “Maybe someone’s pet. Who knows? I am trying to find out.”
This is the most rare waterfowl sighting since 2012, when a falcated duck stayed a month at the island just offshore from the viewing deck at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. The duck was a nomadic teal from Asia. The species is called “falcated” because its long wing feathers are curved and then taper to a point at the tail. It is a beautiful bird, its head is shiny green and bronze, its feathers silvery.
Woodbridge spectacle
After last weekend’s story about the new state Lands Pass and how it works at Woodbridge Ecological Reserve in the eastern delta, many made the trip to see the show. Dawn fly-out: Alexander van Broek arrived at Woodbridge before dawn last Sunday for a spectacular sunrise and fly-out of hundreds of sandhill cranes. “The effects of the cranes and the sky, and the swans and geese, on people is all good,” he said. “It’s like they are in church.” Dusk fly-in: “Thanks for the heads-up. Three of us took off from Marin at 2 p.m. and arrived at the preserve at 3:45. And did we see a show when the sandhill cranes came flocking in at dusk. What a life-confirming treat.” — Nick Javaris
Fence-walking fox
Readers may remember the yarn this past spring about the fence-walking coyote in the backyard of Millbrae resident Jean Brady , and a month later, a similar episode with a fox in Mill Valley. Now in the hills west of Dublin comes the tale of another such encounter, photographed last weekend and reported by Tomas Hallin.
“Our cats were acting very strangely on Sunday, running around to find the best window to look out through,” Hallin said. “We decided to
see what the fuss was about, and there was a fox walking around our property — on the top of the fence! After a while, he reached a place where a small arbor butts up against the fence and hopped up there. I caught the picture on my phone, through the window. We are used to seeing turkeys, deer, raccoons and the occasional skunk. This was the first fox.”
Living in reverse
In response to the story to “Live in reverse to solve the season’s craziness,” one of the more insightful notes came from 8,000 miles away, from Tasmania off the south coast of Australia’s mainland:
“My family and I have done this for years, having seen too many tense, even hostile, Christmas days and the following alcohol-soaked week to New Year. There seems some kind of desperation that takes hold of people . ... We go camping down south onto the Great Southern Ocean, Starvation Bay near Hopetoun in Western Australia. It is our favourite place, despite the occasional influx of bush flies and hot winds off the desert. My roast dinner goes into our camp oven and slowly cooks under hot coals and we take things at ‘bush time.’ It’s very relaxed and nature-immersed. Love it. Try it. Take the commerce out of Christmas and experience true peace and good will to all.” — Susan Hartley
Q&A
Q: “When a group of coyotes sound off for about 30 seconds in the evening, have they caught prey? If not, what triggers the outburst?” — Stuart Brown A: The louder the howl, the bigger the prize, often a fawn.