Stonetta Ranch near Pt. Arena Lighthouse an annual haven for migrating waterfowl*
by Katy Hillenmeyer

   Near a narrow Mendocino County peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean, residents mark each winter's arrival and departure by the flight of the tundra swans.

   "We watch them fly by the house every night," said Larry Stornetta, a third-generation rancher whose pastures near Point Arena attract scores of swans by day.  "We look forward to seeing them come, and when they rally up and get ready to leave, it's just like spring is here."

   The annual migrations, to and from the frozen plains of Canada and Alaska for which tundra swans are named, have made the Garcia River estuary a magnet for bird-watchers and other wildlife enthusiasts.

   Since 1917, "the Stornettas have been incredible stewards of the land," said Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers' managing director Jeff Gales, a neighbor to the 1,860-acre Stornetta Brothers Ranch.  "They've created a perfect habitat for these...swans to nest and feed."

   Conservationists are negotiating with the Stornetta family to preserve most of its coastal property, a former dairy where beef cattle, potatoes and row crops are raised.  In June, the state Coastal Conservancy voted to move ahead with the $7.8 million deal, which is pending agreement between the Stornetta co-owners and state and federal agencies.

   "We're trying to balance public use with Larry (and his partners) being able to farm and with conservation use," said Rich Burns, field manager in Ukiah for the federal Bureau of Land Management.  "But nothing has been signed yet."

   In their annual count last month, Audubon Society volunteers counted 277 tundra swans in a 15-mile diameter area that includes the Stornetta ranch.  They -- and the Stornettas' neighbors -- said the swans are among the most highly visible creatures that make preserving this rugged coastal land desirable.

   "Tourists and people traveling Highway 1 often stop and look at them," said Jim Thompson, a Manchester birder who lives beside the Stornetta ranch.  "They're a beautiful bird in flight."

   Tundra swans are North America's most common swans, and they annually migrate into the United States along Eastern and Western corridors.  But their wintering grounds between Manchester and Point Arena -- 86 miles northwest of Santa Rosa -- represent the southernmost point on the California coast where large numbers consistently can be found, waterfowl experts agreed.

   Though the swans are widely spotted in the San Joaquin Valley's wetlands and rice fields, "there's no regular wintering spot in Sonoma or Marin counties," said Benjamin "Mike" Parmeter, co-author of the gazetteer "Birds of Sonoma County."

   Also known as whistling swans, they frequently feed in shallow water -- on leaves, stems and tubers of aquatic and marsh plants.

   From December to late February and March, the coastal fields and lagoons between the Garcia River and Brush Creek provide bountiful grazing opportunities, wildlife biologist Scott Koller said.

   "It's one of the prime birding locations in Mendocino County for multiple bird species," said Koller, who works in Mendocino and Lake counties for the California Department of Fish and Game.

   For at least 80 years, residents have told of tundra swans' wintering along the mud flats of the Garcia River, where it drains into the Pacific.

   "They were first being recorded on Humboldt Bay at eh mouth of the Eel River in the late 1880s," said Ft. Bragg resident Art Morley, a longtime birder and former park ranger.  "I wouldn't be surprised if they were occurring down here at that time, also."

   The decades have reinforced a protective bond between the swans and coastal dwellers.  Thompson recalled on winter, almost 20 years ago, when a game warden rescued a water-logged tundra swan and nursed it back to health in front of the Thompsons' fireplace.

   Aficionados predict the familiar waterfowl will continue to winter there, so long as predators and habitat changes don't interfere.

   "Most swans are very traditional," said wildlife biologist Melanie Weaver of the state Department of Fish and Game.  "They're going to do what works for them until they get pushed out."