California Ricelands and Waterbird Habitat
- Part I:
Overview of Ricelands and Waterbird Habitat - Part II:
Overview of Waterbird Ecology and Conservation
Goals/Needs - Part III:
Sacramento Valley Species Snapshot - Part IV:
Riceland Shorebirds - Part V:
Riceland Wading Birds - Part VI:
Riceland Marsh Birds - Part VII:
Riceland Waterfowl - Part VIII:
Cooperative Partnerships to Enhance Ricelands Habitats - Part IX:
Riceland Waterbirds Future Vision - Part X:
Technical References
Part VI: Riceland Marsh Birds
There are a variety of waterbirds that depend on marsh or riceland habitat. Bitterns forage much like herons and egrets, whereas Soras and coots eat much smaller items including vegetation and small invertebrates. Black Terns forage aerially over water or fields, dropping to the surface to catch invertebrates.
Black Terns nest almost exclusively in rice in the Sacramento Valley. In rice fields they build their nests on top of large dirt clods sticking above the water’s surface. They also nest in wetlands and prefer shallow water with sparse vegetation in this type of habitat, placing their nests on a platform of mud and vegetation surrounded by water. They do not occur in rice fields in the winter, as most winter in the Gulf of Panama, but can be seen using rice during migration in the spring and fall.
American Bitterns and Soras nest in dense vegetation of marshes and in weedy upland fields, and are found in California year round. They prefer to go unnoticed in habitats with dense vegetation, but they also commonly use the boundary between vegetation and open areas such as between a vegetated internal levee and flooded rice paddy. Bitterns can be found throughout rice fields.