Natural History Wanderings

The Sacramento Bee reports

Rice fields provide critical food and habitat for millions of geese, mallards, wood ducks and other migratory waterfowl that traverse what is known as the Pacific Flyway. Shorebirds such as Western sandpipers and long-billed curlews also find temporary homes in rice fields.

With California having lost 95% of its historic wetland habitat since the Gold Rush, “rice has become an important surrogate,” said Mike Lynes, public policy director for Audubon California.

This year, though, there will be a lot less rice for the waterfowl. Economists and others believe at least half of the normal rice acreage will go fallow, leaving at least 250,000 acres of Valley land empty.

Read full article at  CA drought spells devastation for Pacific Flyway waterfowl | The Sacramento Bee