The Birds are Migrating

Driving down my street at sunset a couple of days ago, I saw a migrating flock of very large birds, flying high and silent. Mesmerized, I pulled over and got out of my car to wonder at them. The sun made their white bellies glint golden against the blue sky, and their V formation constantly reformed itself. It took me a while to recognize them as geese, based on their shape. In Washington, I usually saw Canada geese flying low, honking to each other. This was beautiful and awe-inspiring, these birds moving with quiet purpose on their long journey south. I don't know what they do when they get there, but I hope they get good rest and lots of food. They deserve it.

The next morning I turned onto the main street of my retirement community and saw a couple of very large motor homes, pulling SUVs, enter the gates. I didn't think much of it until I saw several more the next day. And then some more. Suddenly, I realized this was the migration the other year-round desert residents told me about. The Return of the Snow Birds.

The Return of the Snowbirds means the population will swell until early spring. The pools, restaurants and doctor's offices will be crowded. Stores and banks will have long lines. I'm part of a several-thousand-year-old human tradition: people coming to the Coachella Valley for the winter. Artesian wells, sunshine and warm temperatures drew the Native American tribes out of their mountains and hills long before we discovered its pleasures--in fact, "Indio" means "Indian," the town so named because of the tribes that used to gather here.

Retirees are only the latest nomadic tribe in the area. Their predecessors are still here, offering the new tribe shelter, food, and enertainment. That used to be called Pow Wow. Now it's called casinos. Only the birds still do it the old way. Still, both kinds of migratory flocks are pretty amazing.