Josey Ranch – October 2022 — The 21st Century Matriarch

The work to replace the decking on the boardwalks around the cattails end of the lake at Josey Ranch has been completed.

The damage to the concrete walkways from the drought and the maintenance trucks is still there and is evidently not going to be repaired anytime soon.

My visit toward the end of October was later in the morning, and I didn’t see as many birds as usual. There was one female grackle…not the larger crowd that used to be at there all during the year with raucous calls.

The Great Egret that I see almost every time was still there.

The Snowy Egret was new this time. It was on the other side of the lake in the grass at first then moved to the new decking on one of the boardwalks. The wind ruffled its feathers.

The swans were asleep on the bank.

There were a lot of white feathers in the water and in the grass. I took a series of pictures. Many of the feathers looked relatively fresh, and I wondered if they were from normal preening or a disaster that befell some white bird.

I saw some small birds on the water and walked closer to see them. The Ruddy Ducks were either passing through on migration or maybe they will stay for the winter!

These are diving ducks so it takes some effort to photograph them if they are feeding!

As I walked back toward my car, a turtle was poking its nose out of the water. The lake has been cleared of snags that the turtles could use for sitting on cool days, unfortunately.