California IN BRIEF : MERCED : Drought Dries Up Birds’ Rest Stop

San Joaquin Valley marshes, an important stopping point for migrating birds, are drying up because of the state’s prolonged drought. The marshes serve as a rest stop on the Pacific flyway, the migratory route between South America and Siberia, and are the second-richest habitat for shore birds after San Francisco Bay. But biologists say the wetlands, squeezed by a fifth consecutive year of drought, have shrunk to their smallest size in about a decade. Among the migrating birds who depend on the marshes are sandpipers, avocets, stilts, plovers and ducks. Over the last 100 years, the valley marshes have dwindled from 1.1 million acres to 280,000 acres.