Walk Set at Pierce to View Canada Geese

They fly in every winter and some stay until spring, making their temporary home on the Pierce College campus.

On Saturday, the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society will give people a chance to watch the Canada geese that make the Valley a stop on their annual migratory path.

More than 750 of these winged creatures have been observed on campus this year, as well as five white-fronted geese. Some have elected to stay, while others have gone on to other ports to wait out the cold winter back home.

“We have a fluctuation of about 100 or so birds every week or two,” said Wendi Gladstone, an Audubon member. “This is sometimes just a winter stopover.”

The free walk will begin at 7 a.m. with a view of the geese flying in from parts north or from the Encino Reservoir, where they often spend the night and go to Pierce to feed in the morning. The walkers will then go down to the Pierce farm fields to observe the geese until 9 a.m.

Gladstone and Ted Kinchloe, a Pierce biology instructor and bird expert, will guide the walk, explaining migration patterns of these geese and other birds.

“Migration is an important part of their lives,” Gladstone said. “We want to educate the public about what migration is and the importance of open space.”

Participants will meet in front of the Agriculture Science building on El Rancho Road between De Soto and Mason avenues. Society officials suggest wearing warm clothes, walking shoes and carrying binoculars.

The Audubon Society walk is meant to replace a farm walk of the college agricultural grounds led by a former Pierce college president--many times that walk coincided with the birds’ migration stay in the Valley.

If there is rain on Saturday, the walk will be postponed one week.