According to the Marion County Naturalist Marla Mertz, bird migration has started to pick up in the Red Rock area.

Marla says that many water birds and waterfowl have begun making their way into the Red Rock area in preparation to travel south for the winter. Mertz adds that one of the unique details about bird migration in the fall is that young birds travel without their parents but are born with the knowledge of where their parents nest in the winter.

“When we look at migration coming in the fall, it’s kind of odd how you think about that, but we get our young birds that come back without their parents going on their way to where their parents winter. They already are hatched with that information in their brain and they already know the timing. Timing is everything for them. And so we’ve been seeing a lot of young birds moving back into the area in different pods and groups.”

Hear more from Marla Mertz on Monday’s In Touch with South Central Iowa.