Pacific Flyway
Wings of wonder at Gray Lodge Reserve
ABUNDANT LIFE Snow geese commune in their wintering ground at Sacramento Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Ron Erskine
Most, but not all. While the numbers are only one-tenth of what they were long ago, millions of waterfowl still spend the winter in an array of Central Valley wildlife refuges. A real life National Geographic spectacle is only a day trip away.
My route home from Lake Almanor would pass a number of Sacramento Valley wildlife refuges. The challenge was deciding which ones to visit. I remembered years ago the thrill and excitement when thousands of snow geese, calmly floating at the Merced Wildlife Refuge, suddenly burst skyward in a cacophony of wing beating and honking. I hoped to find a gathering of snow geese and see just such a spectacle again.
Gray Lodge Wildlife Refuge is a handful of miles west of Gridley on Highway 99 north of Yuba City. I stuffed my $4 day-use fee into the envelope and set out for the main viewing platform, a short walk away. A man I spoke to there said that on his last visit, the surface of the water we overlooked was covered with snow geese, but not today. Along the two-mile footpath through the refuge, I saw a variety of waterfowl, but not the concentrations I was seeking. Time to press on.
Beside Interstate Highway 5, the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge is the lead refuge in a complex of five wildlife areas near Willows, California. After asking for guidance at the visitor center, I crept slowly along the 6-mile auto tour loop getting out at the three park-and-stretch areas, the only locations where visitors are allowed to leave their vehicles. Right where they said it would be, a bald eagle sat atop a bare cottonwood regally surveying the landscape. In a blaze, a peregrine falcon streaked past.
As at Gray Lodge Reserve, I had seen many birds including snow geese, but not in concentrations I had hoped. As it turned out, my snow geese encounter happened on a stretch of road between the two refuges. Racing along at 65 miles an hour, I saw a sea of white floating on one of the many ordinary bodies of water by the side of the road. I stopped, grabbed my camera, and waited. I only had to wait a few moments before peaceful silence exploded into an indescribably raucous surge of life.
A glimpse of the wild and abundant bird life that existed in the Central Valley for millennia is just over the hill; well worth the drive and a little bit of patience.
- After 10 years, Ron Erskine hangs up pen – January 9, 2020
- A Coe Park classic – August 15, 2019
- South Valley responds to annual summer hiking trek – July 31, 2019
