So here you are, a resident water bird in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California on the Pacific flyway. You made it fat and sassy through Spring and Summer, and you seem pretty well located to ride out Fall and Winter.

Suddenly there are hunters here, there, and everywhere to shake things up. Then all the thousands and thousands of out-of-towners fly in on their way south and crowd you out of some of the best spots, eat your food, keep everyone up at night with their incessant noise, etc. And finally, shadowing the out-of-towners, are an influx of birds of prey you have to keep an eye on.

Resident waterfowl around here must hate Fall. How about in your neck of the woods?

Tens of thousnads of birds - geese, swans, ducks, cranes, etcetera - can be heard "talking" throughout the night just south of the marina where I stay. I often see the resident eight-bird duck flock looking south and apparently listening. Wonder what if anything is going on in their brains?

No doubt it's the usual gaggle found in any airport, following the sun southward. "Where's my boarding pass, where's my wallet, where's the bathroom, why is my flight cancelled, anybody know a good restaurant/hotel?"

Meanwhile, the locals (and the hovering thieves) are trying to figure out how to get a few bites off the passing bounty.

Any Canada Geese down there? Having watched them flock southward over the last month, I can appreciate their annual bug-out strategy. In the next 24 hours, our forecast is for 6" of snow, then dropping down to -26C. Bloody 'eck.

at least thousands, maybe tens of thousands. And that is not counting the hundreds that have decided living on a California golf course year-round is the way to not go!