Mayberry 2012

(Note: For those who are not familiar with Mayberry, that’s what we call our Sherman Island duck club. We owned it for years and sold it to the State (under threat of condemnation) in the ’90s. Since that time we’ve been in a lease agreement with management of the property our responsibility – until about four years ago. That’s when California decided to put a new program into place. We still have a hunting lease, but do not manage the property. This update may interest those who have followed my duck hunting and property management stories on this blog.)

The Mayberry transformation is complete. There is no longer any habitat that is prime for dabbling ducks and wading birds. The property has been changed from a shallow-water seasonal wetland to a deep-water marsh inhabited by tules (hardstem bulrush) and cattail, but very little wildlife. Yes there are a few river otters, fish and blackbirds, but a census of wildlife would show a fraction of  the inhabitants from just a few years ago. To be fair, it is  a fact that the bulk of migrating waterfowl have not reached the area yet, so things will get better.

I’m on the outside looking in, but the way I understand it, the primary purpose of the ongoing project at Mayberry is two fold – study the subsidence of delta islands and also evaluate carbon sequestration associated with the dense stands of tules and cattail. It is hoped that covering the land with water will stop the sinking of the islands by reducing oxidation of the highly organic soils. And, that a study of tules and cattail will provide insight into ways to improve air quality and reduce global warming trends.

These are lofty goals, but the losses associated with this study are by far more clear, to me, than the gains.

Mayberry looks like a lake.

During  my last three trips to Mayberry, I’ve not spotted a duck on the ponds, not even a coot. The closest I’ve seen to a duck has been a cormorant that landed on the water. The good news, I can take my fishing rod out with me on opening day of duck season.

There is still hope for some waterfowl activity, but it’s sketchy. I’ve been told that there are a couple pair of honkers using the property and the shallow seasonal ponds next door hold quite a few ducks that could possibly flyover Mayberry. Maybe ducks will begin to use the property as the waterfowl migration arrives, but there is very little food for them.

Here’s a photo of a shallow pond next door. This is what we used to see at Mayberry before the ponds were converted to permanent water.

The sad part of the story is that 300 acres of great duck and shorebird habitat has been destroyed. It’s too bad that at least some of the property wasn’t left as seasonal marsh. It would have been a nice compromise and it would have allowed for more use by migratory waterfowl – both game and non-game. Or better yet, they could have left the seasonal marsh in place and converted 300 acres of cow pasture to marsh. I guess the pasture was too valuable.

Thousands of waterfowl formerly used Mayberry as a significant winter feeding area.

The bottom line is that management of the property in is the control of others and I have been blessed with great opportunity to hunt there for many years, so no matter what happens, I will always be thankful that my partners and I have had such incredible good fortune.

The good old days with shallow marsh and seasonl wetland habitat.

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Mayberry, March 2011

 

White front geese greeted me on the way to Mayberry. I recall seeing them at this same small pond during March of previous years – one of their last hangouts before they head north. (Click to enlarge photo.)

White-front geese near Antioch Bridge.

Another common site on the way to Mayberry in late winter is goats grazing on the levees. This levee maintainance is a necessary evil.

Levee goats 3-14-11.

Maybe the goats are early enough that the cover can recoup in time for pheasant nesting season. The levee is the only part of the property that has suitable cover for nesting.

Here's something new at Mayberry, Canada geese. Maybe they'll hang around to nest, if they can find a bush to hide behind.

 The weather was not good for photography, so I drove around the levees hoping to find something encouraging. A kildeer posed for me.

Kildeer are something else that's new.

I imagine we’ll have kildeer for a year or two, until the habitat matures. Then they look for another site with no cover.

A look at the neighboring pasture, brought back memories of the days when we had seasonal marsh.

A look at the Mayberry ponds was discouraging.

Mayberry’s ponds held a few ducks in the remaining shallow spots, but most of the ponds were deep and void of waterfowl use.

A flock of snows passed by and then a larger flock of white-fronts lifted off to the west and passed overhead.

These geese made a lot of noise.

The specs came by even closer.

White-front geese at Sherman Island

Waterfowl was evident all around, but mostly not using Mayberry.

A few sprig were using the shallowest portion of the ponds. As the skies lightened, I got a pretty good photo of one passing by.

Pintail drake over Mayberry.

Light conditions were very poor for photography of birds in flight, but the sun did come out to illuminate this pintail.

A few attempts to photograph the goldeneyes of Mayberry slough resulted in one pretty good shot.

The goldeneye live on the slough, but seldom travel over the ponds.

It’s almost time for the goldeneye to depart northward. They’ll be back again next Thanksgiving.

Cliff swallows are ever present at Mayberry.

Cliff swallows are tough to photograph in flight.

Antioch Bridge view from Mayberry.

I suppose the swallows make their nests on the bridge.

Along the Sacramento River bank, I photographed this snowy egret. He showed well on a gray day.

Snowy egret hunting.

He lifted off and the photo in flight came out pretty well too.

Things will improve at Mayberry as the habitat matures. It’s interesting to see how wildlife use changes with the habitat.

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A New Look for Opening Day

Cleaned out my trailer today. Boy what a mess. Got rid of a bee hive and put out decon for rats.

Jacked the trailer up and got it nearly level.

More work to do, but had to tour the property first. The new canals are open water and most of the areas that have feed are just beginning to hold enough water to attract ducks. Looks like we’ll be ok for opening day.

Here are some photos.’

The sun was rising through a thin layer of fog as I arrived. Made a nice photo.

Egrets and herons take advantage of flood up as it exposes lots of prey for them.

Ducks were on the water as I arrived.

This pond is likely to hold birds on opening day.

Lola got some scent, but didn't find a pheasant.

A few mallards worked the pond and landed.

Gadwalls came in as well.

That was about it. Wading birds, like stilts, sandpipers and phaloropes outnumbered ducks, but I’m sure there will be enough to make things interesting come Saturday.

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Many Changes at Mayberry this Year

Our duck club on Sherman Island has undergone a tremendous overhaul this summer. Formerly a seasonal marsh, it is now a permanent marsh. This is a drastic change (the equivalent of a sex change), but we hope it will work out.  

Yesterday we raised several of our blinds in an effort to prepare for the changes.  

We uncovered several of our blinds and raised them so they will work at the new water level.

 The “new” Mayberry will have water year round and the depths will as much as five feet, with much of the area two feet or less. Wading may be a little treacherous at times. 

Here’s one of our barrels ready to be buried. Looks like a redneck did the work. Guess I’ll take the credit. 

The boards were "carefully" placed around the blind to make sure it does not float up.

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Turning Farm Ground into Wildlife Habitat

After a morning of enthusiastic and exhausting pheasant hunting, with a bird each in the bag, Rob and I trudged through a final field of marsh on our way back to camp.

 

I glanced over to my brother, and he pointed skyward – above our main duck hunting pond. A large flock of mallards was circling and other flocks were appearing on the horizon. No telling exactly why, but our pond was loading up with mallards.

The last field was devoid of pheasants. Just as well, I was pretty tired and one more chase was not what I really wanted. In camp, Rob grabbed his binoculars and glassed the sky.

“You’ve got to see this,” he hollered.

I grabbed my field glasses and joined him.

From a half mile away, the sight was impressive. Dozens of mallards floated over the pond in preparation to land. Above them a second layer of mallards was circling at the base of the “grind.”  Above those birds mallards could be seen bee lining from afar, like flocks of darts pointed in one direction. The target was our main duck pond approximately 75-acres in size.

Several times I mentioned to Rob that we’d better come back out duck hunting in a couple days, but it was the satisfaction of knowing what we’d created that really hit home. This duck club was a field of corn until fifteen years ago when we purchased it. Since that time Rob, with the support of the rest of our crew, undid the “improvements” made by many men and converted the rows of crops into a shallow-water seasonal marsh that is one of the most wildlife intense properties on earth.

The attraction of a seasonal marsh to wildlife is undeniable. In California, managed seasonal marsh, such as ours, is very rare. With agriculture utilizing every acre of farm ground for maximum production, the only producers of intensively managed marsh are waterfowl hunters – and most duck hunters have tight budgets which limit their ability to work the ground, irrigate and effectively manage their property.

(Caption: Other than duck clubs, the primary occurance of managed seasonal marsh is on waterfowl refuges, which are often funded by hunters and revenue related to excise taxes on guns and ammunition throught the Pittman Robertson Act. These pintails are resting on the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.)

Our 75-acre pond would hold thousands of ducks by day and the surrounding 100 acres would hold even more by night as they fed on the almost endless supply of natural foods.

To think that we were largely responsible for making a home for this frenzy of wildlife activity. However, it’s discouraging to know that it is so rare.

This type of habitat is relatively easy to create, if one can escape financial boundaries. Hunting creates an economic incentive to set aside land for wildlife habitat. That’s why hunting is so important to the future of wildlife populations especially in California where wildlife habitat is the endangered species.

In addition to dozens of species of ducks (such as mallard, pintail, green-wing teal, cinnamon teal, spoonbill, widgeon, wood ducks, canvasback, redhead, golden-eye, bufflehead) and geese  (white-front, Canada, snow, Aleutian) other game birds that flourish on the property include pheasants, dove and snipe. Non-game species are far too plentiful to list.

Here’s a short list of birds we see on almost every trip to the property: Red-tailed hawks, Coopers hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, harriers, white tailed kites, barn owls, great horned owls, short eared owls, turkey vultures and kestrels. Water birds include curlews, stilts, avocets, phalarope, sandpipers, great-blue herons, American egrets, black crowned night herons, bitterns, grebes, moor hens, Virginia rail, sora rail, coots, various gulls and even white pelicans.

We have warblers, marsh wrens, black phoebes, mocking birds, towhees, doves, pigeons, redwing blackbirds and starlings by the thousands.

Mammals not as easy to spot, but always nearby are coyotes, skunks, possum, raccoon, river otters, mice, voles, mink and beaver. We once had a tule elk living on our property.

There are crayfish by the thousands, which attract the river otters, which leave their smelly markings at every corner of the property.

(Caption: Above is an aerial view of Mayberry Farms duck club, located on Sherman Island in the Delta, in late winter. After migrating waterfowl have fed here for months, this seasonal  marsh continues to provide valuable habitat for wildlife.)

All this is there, only because we decided that the property was more valuable as a marsh than as a cornfield. Interestingly enough, this could happen more often, but hunters don’t often understand how to create habitat. All it takes is fertile ground, water, money and a plan. In return, one can be rewarded not only with great hunting, but a fullfilling sense of good will.

   

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