One of the things I enjoy most about living around here is the thousands of migratory birds. Each year I sit and marvel at seeing the Geese Armada.
I live on one of the many lakes (Soap Lake) in Grant County and am amazed at how hundreds of geese can fly in tight formation and land together in one spot on the lake. I can hear the "swishhhh" of the water as they land on the water en mass. Sometimes I see a group in one area of the lake swim towards another flock on the water. They look like miniature ship armada's maneuvering to do battle. Of course they don't do battle but to listen to all the squawking that goes on you'd think there was.
Moses Lake is located directly in the path of the Pacific Flyway, the migratory path for countless waterfowl. With the abundance of water and habitat, the area is home to over 150,000 migrating and wintering mallard ducks, Canada geese, and other waterfowl, including tundra swans. In the spring and fall large numbers of Sandhill Cranes use the area as a resting stop on their migratory journeys. Nearby Columbia National Wildlife Refuge is a scenic mixture of rugged cliffs, canyons, lakes, marshes, and arid sagebrush grasslands. The favorable mixture of lakes and surrounding irrigated croplands, mild winters and the refuge protection, attracts peaks of over 200 different bird species observed. Hawks, owls, raven and cliff swallows can be observed in the cliff areas. Local wetlands provide shelter to herons, American avocets and other shorebirds. Pheasants, quail and magpies are found in the upland areas.
Check out the migratory map below for Washington Birding provided by the Columbia Basis Audubon Society.
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