600 acres of former farmland could become one of the Bay Delta’s best places to watch birds. Here’s what’s already showing up — and what’s coming next.
Snow geese having a rest day at Hoover Ranch, Bethel Island.
At a 600-acre former ranch on Bethel Island, the John Muir Land Trust is creating much-needed new freshwater wetlands in the Bay Delta. Hoover Ranch is already well-known in the birding community, and biological surveys have documented more than 80 species here. As wetlands return to the property, biologists expect even more species to follow.
The marquee species is the snow goose. They arrive in enormous flocks after traveling thousands of miles from the Arctic. Individual birds have wingspans of 4 to 5 feet, and winter flocks can number in the tens or even hundreds of thousands…