On a cloudy Sunday morning, before the sun begins to light up the eastern sky, a single goose honk sounds out about the wetlands. The call echoes around the seemingly empty plain, fading out slowly. Then a responding call answers, then another, this time the cry of a curlew. Slowly, more and more birds awaken, each adding their unique call to the cacophony that welcomes the sunrise. The sky brightens gradually until one can make out each of the birds making the sounds: the godwits and willets that stalk among the banks occasionally dipping into the mud to find crabs and snails, the mallards bobbing for algae, the grebes diving into the water for fish, and a lone egret, gracefully wading across a shallow pool. A large flock of around 300 snow geese frolic around, enjoying the sun that has just broken over the horizon.
Suddenly, the gaggle erupts in loud warning calls, as they all take off into the sky. The site is breathtaking, as a giant mass of white that blocks out everything else. The whole wetland is thrown into chaos as thousands of birds join these snow geese in their flight, heading up into the clouds and circling overhead. After a few minutes, everything settles down once again. It seems the commotion never happened, except for one bird: a lone peregrine falcon, heading off to a nearby perch, a single snow goose dead in its talons.
This breathtaking spectacle is one of the many amazing events happening due to the annual fall migration of birds as they head from their summer breeding spots in the Arctic back down south to their winter locations. Some birds, like the Arctic tern, take extremely long journeys from Alaska all the way down to Antarctica, which is the longest annual migration of any species. Others do not migrate as far, staying here in California to brave the winter.
One can see these birds anywhere, but many migrating waterbirds can be found in the coastal wetlands, such as Elkhorn Slough or Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Elkhorn Slough is a beautiful place not only for viewing migratory shorebirds, but also for seeing sea otters, as the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium releases their rehabilitated sea otters there. Don Edwards used to be a group of salt ponds, but since then the area has been restored, transforming the former wetlands into a haven for migratory birds and their observers.
Don Edwards is only about a twenty minute drive from Saint Francis, the perfect place for a relaxing evening after school. If you do decide to go birding, you can find out which birds you encounter using the Merlin Bird ID app, which will not only help you identify the species, but will also send the information to scientists to help them study the great annual fall migration.
