Birds are smart critters. Anyone who has watched tractors discing fields in advance of planting has seen hawks circling above watching for a vole or gopher forced into the open by the passing blades, an easy meal for any keen-eyed raptor.
Likewise at one of the refuges of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex wintering waterfowl line up beside a field for an easy lunch as a tractor mows down rows of corn planted just for them.
Established in 1951 by the authorization of legislation known as the Lea Act, the Merced National Wildlife Refuge is one of only a few nationwide so established. The intent of the act was to create foraging habitat that would lure waterfowl and other birds away from farm fields and crops growing there thus reducing crop damage and depredation.
But luring hungry waterfowl from acres upon acres of tasty wheat, corn and almost any other green shoot coming out of the ground in late winter isn’t a matter of dangling a shiny object to get the birds’ attention.
Instead, a farming program was started on the refuge to produce high-nutrition crops that would draw hungry wintering birds out of surrounding agricultural fields and onto the refuge. Each year 100 to 150 acres of the refuge is planted in foraging crops like corn or winter wheat, and intermittent harvest of those crops begins in February after the regular waterfowl hunting season ends.
The harvested grain provides migratory birds with high-quality carbohydrates, and it’s not a matter of just fattening the post-Christmas goose. Flying takes a lot of energy and the birds need to build up energy reserves to fuel their long-distance flights to Canada and Alaska in the spring.
It’s not just the geese and Sandhill cranes that benefit from the refuge’s annual grain harvest. Visitors to the refuge will find tens of thousands of birds in proximity to the corn field which provides them spectacular sights and sounds seldom found elsewhere. From now through mid-March is a wonderful time to visit the Merced National Wildlife Refuge before the birds take their leave enroute to their summer breeding grounds.
The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, Merced National Wildlife Refuge and the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge comprise the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Its headquarters and visitor center are located just north of Los Banos off Highway 165 at 7376 South Wolfsen Road.
The refuges are open to visitors daily from one half-hour before sunrise to one half-hour after sunset. The visitor center is open Monday through Friday except federal holidays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call the refuge visitor center at 209-826-3508, ext. 127 or check out the upcoming events on the website at fws.gov/refuge/san-luis.
