River of Birds

It’s migration season and over the past few days there have been birds flying south along the coast. Overhead there is a constant line or V- or swarm of gulls, terns, pelicans, and other birds making their way past us. Yesterday, we were amazed by the sheer number of birds flying overhead.

At one point, the birds began to fly in circles forming a whirlpool of wings, dipping down to the water. I looked with my binoculars and could see many were diving into the water, fishing. There was a school of anchovies beneath the surface, and the birds were taking advantage to feed. The pelicans were particularly thick over the fishing zone.

If you don’t look carefully, the birds can be nearly invisible, tiny dots in the sky. Watching for a few minutes, you realize there must have been more than 100,000 birds pass by over the past three days, as every hour, thousands of birds fly by.