Notes about your surroundings.

WILD GOOSE CHASE: It’s called Quail Hill, but its most famous residents are geese. The Irvine slope, located along the San Diego Freeway and bounded by Jeffrey Road and Sand Canyon Avenue, is where thousands of migratory Canada geese congregate for 3 months each winter to rest and feed among the grazing cattle.

The birds also use nearby Sand Canyon Reservoir, and move to and from the fields each morning and evening, providing a spectacle for freeway commuters.

Preparations to make the Quail Hill area a reserve for the geese continue, according to John Simon, who is helping to coordinate the project as an aide to Irvine Mayor Larry Agran. A 360-acre preserve at Quail Hill is part of an open-space agreement between the city and the Irvine Co., reached last year and approved by the city’s voters.

“It’s still the Irvine Co.’s at the moment,” Simon said. The property will eventually be turned over to the city in exchange for development rights in other parts of Irvine.

This year, only about 1,200 geese wintered at the site, down from as many as 4,000 last year. The last of the geese headed north in March, and the city has taken the opportunity to attack a problem of invading artichoke thistles on the property. The non-native plants spread a poison that kills native grasses, and their leaves also inhibit other growth by blocking sunlight to the ground.

If left unchecked, Simon said, the intruders could seriously affect the amount of plant material available for foraging by the geese.

Another priority is deciding how to develop the area between Quail Hill and the reservoir without inhibiting the movement of the geese between the areas, Simon said.

The geese are shy of humans, which makes any plans to provide visitor facilities for viewing the birds tricky. A roadside pullout with informational signs is one possibility, Simon said. Another is an observation area at the reservoir, which is not currently open to the public.

Simon said he has visited the reservoir to view the geese on early winter mornings. “When they take off and start honking, it’s quite a sight,” he said. “It would be nice to involve the public in something like that.”