TOUCHDOWN ON AN OASIS : LODI PARK DRAWS BIRDS ALONG MIGRATION ROUTE.

Byline: Monique Beeler Lodi News Sentinel

They flock here by the hundreds at summer's end.

Tourists really, they come to squawk at their neighbors and flutter about, showing off seasonal finery to suitors and edging out competitors for the best quarters.

Like clannish socialites, each group nests only in approved neighborhoods. Some prefer dwelling in oak groves, while others stick to the lake.

Welcome to the 40-acre parcel along the Mokelumne River marked by oak woodlands and lakes, wild grape and wildlife, known to locals as Lodi Lake Park.

Because it lies along a major migratory corridor and offers some of the only remaining natural riparian habitat left in the Central Valley, the local city park is a magnet for migrating, wintering and nesting birds.

It's a comfortable filling station and stopover point for species that alight here year round, such as the neotropical migrants arriving from as far south as Venezuela and Costa Rica on their way to the Yukon or Alaska. Without the plentiful food and protection found here, many would not survive the journey.

``When birds are flying over square miles and miles of farmland and cities, when they see this little green spot - boom - they're down there,'' said David Yee, a local bird-watcher and Audubon Society member. He calls the area Lodi's ``little gem,'' and his count of 190 different species is used as the official record for the park.

Northern flickers, wood ducks, double-crested cormorants, brown pelicans, acorn woodpeckers, wrentits and Western tanagers are among the species Yee and other birders, as they're called, see here each year.

``There are people who come out here and spend hours and hours,'' said Barbara Brown, the park's ranger and naturalist. Nature walks devoted to birding are offered at the park every month or so.

Toting her birders' bible, a field guide to the area's winged wonders, Brown often leads groups of schoolchildren along the trails, pointing out the habitat favored by different species.

``That's a cormorant there. Now he's taking off, so he won't be back,'' she said, pointing across wind-whipped Lodi Lake as a glossy green-black bird pumped its wings and rose skyward.

Ringing the lake, clumps of valley oaks peppered with black holes exhibited evidence of woodpecker activity.

``It's like they just go to market,'' said Brown, noting that the birds peck acorn-size holes into the trees, then insert nuts into each space. Later, when food is scarce, the birds fly back and take food from the tree like a child raiding the family pantry.

At least six distinct habitat areas house the bird population.

The mini-ecosystems include oak woodlands, Lodi Lake, a shallow irrigation canal, Pigs Lake, an open meadow and an understory of wild blackberry and other vegetation allowed to grow wild.

Among the ground dwellers that thrive in sprawling patches of wild blackberry, elderberry and grape vines are quail and the rufous-sided towhee.

The latter counts as one of Brown's favorite park inhabitants.

``He's so unusual. He's got little red eyes and he builds his nest on the ground. And when he walks, he dances,'' she said, holding out her hands with fingers spread. She bounces them back and forth in the air, mimicking the bird's jaunty pace. ``If he's trying to attract a mate, he'll sort of strut.''

The rufous-sided towhee is not the only resident with love on its mind.

In addition to migrating and wintering populations, some 20 species nest at the park annually, says Yee. These include the wrentit, black-headed grosbeak, ash-throated flycatcher and several kinds of wrens.

Morning is the best time of day, regardless of the season, to catch a glimpse of feathered critters flitting about, he said.

The most unusual bird he has seen in the park was a flaming orange Baltimore Oriole, a native of the East Coast, which apparently lost its bearings.

``I am out there to see something rare,'' he said, ``but (I) also enjoy seeing all the common things that I can't find in my back yard.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) A Canada goose lands at Lodi Lake Park, a 40-acre parcel of habitat in the Central Valley that has become a stopover for 190 species of migrating, wintering and nesting birds.

(2) A gaggle of hungry geese gathers around Rainy Harr as he bears a bag full of bread crumbs Friday.

Associated Press