Galt Winter Bird Festival billed a success

Boy Scouts Gino Garcia, left, and Trent Azevedo look at art created by local kids on Saturday afternoon at Galt's Winter Bird Festival. (Whitney Ramirez/News-Sentinel)

Galt Winter Bird Festival billed a success

Event will most likely migrate yearly to Galt

By Ross Farrow
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Monday, January 14, 2008 7:32 AM PST

Comments (2 comment(s))

Galt's Winter Bird Festival was deemed a success on Saturday, especially considering it was the city's inaugural festival, organizers said.

"There was a really good number of families with children that were in attendance," said Galt resident David Yee, who gave visitors to Chabolla Community Center an overview about migratory birds in the Galt area and the nearby Cosumnes River Preserve.

"The organizers did a good job of getting local schools involved," Yee said. "A lot of stuff was geared toward children."

Street Scene: What was your best bird-watching experience?

The goal of the Winter Bird Festival was to show more than the sandhill crane — which is the name of Lodi's annual three-day festival in October — because there are many other types of birds and waterfowl in the Galt area. These include geese, ducks, swans, peregrine falcons, red-tailed hawks and the yellow-billed magpie, Yee said.

The Swainson's Hawk is also a mainstay in the Galt-Lodi area, but they don't inhabit the area this time of year, Yee added.

Misty Bell, a Galt businesswoman who coordinated the Bird Festival, said that Saturday's highlight for many visitors were the bus tours to the Cosumnes River Preserve, which has 250 species of birds and 50,000 acres of habitat between Galt and Elk Grove.

Art contest winners

Christine Suarez-Murias, with Save Our Sandhill Cranes, helps Dallas Formen, center, and Logan Reid-Reynos make paper cranes at Galt's Winter Bird Festival. (Whitney Ramirez/News-Sentinel)

First Place: Donovan Halnon, fifth grade, Fairsite Elementary.
Second Place: Marcos Cabrera, fifth grade, Franklin Elementary.
Third Place: Emily Bourgoin, third grade, Marengo Ranch Elementary.

Other winners:
Galt High School: Sarah Moore, Katrina Morgan and Willie Douglas, 10th grade; Rotceh Gonzales, ninth grade.
Greer Middle School: Edbel Basaldua and Rebecca Bibson, sixth grade.

Fairsite Elementary
Boys and Girls Club program:
Winner: Sylvia Baglida, third grade
Honorable Mention: Vincente Robles, fifth grade.

River Oaks Elementary
Winner: Christian Karze, first grade; honorable mention: Nathan Mancebo third grade.

Valley Oaks Elementary
Winner: Caitlyn Donotrio, third grade.

Marengo Ranch Elementary
Winner: Gabi Nunez, third grade
Honorable mention: Sarah Ogren, third grade.

Some favorites of bird watchers

Sandhill cranes are seen at Galt's Winter Bird Festival on Saturday. (Whitney Ramirez/News-Sentinel)

Sandhill cranes, which come to the Galt-Lodi area each fall. They have long necks with gray bodies and red crowns. About 7,000 sandhill cranes come to the area each year from Alaska.

Aleutian goose (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Courtesy photograph)

Aleutian Canada geese, which spend their winters from British Columbia to northern Mexico, as well as Japan, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Locally, they are often spotted on Staten Island in the Delta.

Peregrine falcon (TulsaWalk.com/Courtesy photograph)

Peregrine falcons, a cunning bird about the size of a crow that can capture other birds in mid-air.

Swan (About.com/Courtesy photograph)

Swans, a group of popular waterfowl among visitors to the Cosumnes River Preserve.

Yellow-billed magpie (The Lincoln Hills Bird Group/Courtesy photograph)

Yellow-billed magpies, a local favorite. Eighty percent of these birds are concentrated in the Central Valley, between Sacramento and Davis, and south to Modesto, according to bird expert David Yee of Galt. Many of them have died from the West Nile Virus over the past few years.
"It really should be our state bird," Yee said.
Source: David Yee.

Top locations to view birds

• The visitors center at the Cosumnes River Preserve. It's near Interstate 5 on Franklin Boulevard, south of Twin Cities Road and north of the town of Thornton.
• Desmond Road, located in the preserve. It is east of Franklin Boulevard, a short distance north of the visitors center.
• Woodbridge Road west of I-5. It is the premier spot to see sandhill cranes.
• Lodi Lake nature area.
• Staten Island, west of I-5 between Highway 12 and Walnut Grove Road.
Source: David Yee.

"We had three busloads in the morning and evening," Bell said.

Children seemed to enjoy the live birds of prey that the California Raptor Center brought to the Chabolla Community Center, Bell said. Another highlight was the Crane Culture Theater, which included performances by people dressed in masks and costumes talking about cranes, Bell said. Sounds of cranes could be heard in the background.

The festival also featured keynote speaker Gary Ivey of the International Crane Foundation, and a presentation by preserve manager Harry McQuillen about conservation and management practices.

Yee, who lived in Stockton and Lodi before moving to Galt about three years ago, said that the Galt Winter Bird Festival compares favorably to the first year of the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival 11 years ago.

"Everybody was (saying) that more than likely we'll do it again next year," Bell said.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

Lucius wrote on Jan 14, 2008 1:31 PM:

" Makes sense to me, T&C. "

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Taxpayer & Citizen wrote on Jan 14, 2008 10:02 AM:

" I take it they're saying that Galt's was very successful and that Lodi's isn't going to be around very long. Ms. Beckman from the visitors' center, who's pulling down that 125,000+K a year hasn't done much to deserve that kind of salary. Doesn't seem like that's bringing any "tourists" to Lodi. Most other towns use volunteers at their visitors' center, usually someone older with a good knowledge of the history of the region, not just winery after winery. It's time for a change. This could make a good impact when the budget cuts come around. "

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