Friday, August 26, 2011

CRP Round 2 Ponds

Nancy and I surveyed the CRP Round 2 ponds yesterday and found that all 10 of the new ponds were in poor shape. The three ponds of B6 each had about 30% water coverage but we were unable to find any new water entering these ponds - maybe it's there and we just didn't see it, but I don't think so - and very few shorebirds. The 7 ponds of C7 were bone dry except for the west end of pond C074. The only shorebirds we saw in any of the C7 ponds were 5 Killdeer in C074.

A note on the B6 ponds. These ponds were surveyed last year and the east-west levee road along the south side of the ponds remains in miserable shape - you are well-advised to leave your car at the southwest corner of B6 and walk along the road to do your surveys.

Jim Dunn

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Yolo 61

Hi All,

I was at Yolo today to check water depths at Field 61. Of note, I saw a snipe and three juvenile black-crowned night herons. Two juvy herons were foraging snails in the flooded fallow field and one was roosting on the internal levy. Lots of long-billed dowitchers, least sandpipers and a few westerns mixed in there.

Cheers!