There are vast flat lands in California’s San Joaquin Valley west of Merced, California, where the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service maintains about 45,000 acres of habitat for migrating birds using the north-south Pacific Flyway.
A visitor center north of Los Banos, CA offers guidance on using the nearly 21 miles of one-way auto tour routes through several areas. January and February see tens of thousands of geese and other wildfowl gathering on the many flooded fields.
My husband and I recently visited on a windless, 58-degree day. There were thousands of Ross’s geese and hundreds of greater white-fronted geese and lesser sandhill cranes, as well as many other species of birds and wildlife.