We’re celebrating more “good migrations” this week, this time in California’s heartland. As if in Kansas, early immigrants to California's great valley gazed out on green waves of vegetation washed clean by March rains but burnished to a golden brown by August. The shallow lakes and marshes rippled with birdsong, and ancient rivers meandered through jungles of deciduous forest, riverside thickets home to the valley's most complex web of wildlife. Prairies of perennial grasses buzzed with life, and stretched to distant foothills on every horizon.
Vast herds of tule elk, pronghorn, and deer browsed the woodlands and prairies. Even grizzly bears galloped across valley grasslands little more than a century ago. Millions of ducks, geese, swans, and other waterfowl once flocked here in winter clouds so thick that amazed explorers claimed their flight blotted out the sun.
The grizzlies are long gone, and pronghorn and tule elk survive in few places, in limited numbers. But the birds are back, in a big way. After a juicy series of storms you can look out over the Sacramento Valley from surrounding hills and “see” the vast inland sea that once welcomed waterfowl home in winter. Most of the valley's four million acres of wetlands were long ago drained and “reclaimed” for agriculture. Now, some of those lost wetlands are found, included in federal and state wildlife refuges. Restored riparian (riverside) habitat as well as privately owned rice fields and wildlife easements also entice hungry winter migrants.
Come see for yourself. Flock to the 18th annual Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway in late January to experience and learn about the valley’s wintering waterfowl. But get online and sign up right now, because some trips fill up fast. The festival, four days of birding, hiking, and workshops, is headquartered in Butte County—many demonstrations and workshops are held at the Masonic Family Center in north Chico—but field trips fan out in all directions and include surrounding counties.
Led by experienced local birders, many birdwatching trips explore rarefied places, prime wildlife destinations not usually open to the public, including Llano Seco Ranch, Rancho Esquon, and the Sutter Buttes. Some trips offer a bird’s-eye perspective at locations as familiar as your backyard. Others are designed to share rare expertise and experience, such as Raptor ID, Trapping, & Banding, Eagle Roost Safari, even a Bat Safari. The Gathering of Wings banquet on Then there’s the festival’s opening reception and art show, held this year at downtown’s new Children’s Museum of Chico. Do make it a family weekend. You’ll find kid-friendly activities everywhere, from special children’s birdwatching trips to bird carving, and workshops or programs such as habitat gardening and The Return of the Wolves.
To repeat an earlier suggestion: Don’t wait until January to make your Snow Goose Festival plans. Do it now. Get online, read up on trips and workshops still available, and then sign up. If you wait to firm up plans until January when the festival takes flight—January 25th through 29th in 2016—you may miss out. (When trips are full, they’re really full.) You may even miss out on the Gathering of Wings banquet, which typically sells out weeks in advance.
The annual dinner is held in Bell Memorial Union on the Chico State campus, and serves as something of a capstone for the entire festival, coming as it does at the end of the biggest birding day. This year’s special guest and keynote speaker is Alvaro Jaramillo of Alvaro’s Adventures in Half Moon Bay, professional birding guide and author of a number of notable books, including the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of California. Alvaro also writes the Identify Yourself column in Bird Watcher's Digest.
Until next time, bird up!
