A few dozen birdwatchers gathered in the predawn darkness to wait for the moment when thousands of migrating snow geese stopped honking and preening to suddenly take flight from a Pennsylvania reservoir.
The mesmerizing display, about an hour after sunrise, was over almost as soon as it began. The birds circled a few times, then headed out to neighboring farm fields seeking unharvested grains and other sustenance on their annual spring flight northward into New York state and Quebec.
Snow geese feed in a cornfield March 6 in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Humans flock, too
The reservoir was built in Kleinfeltersville a half-century ago to attract waterfowl and, over the years, the gaggle grew. Pennsylvania Game Commission environmental education specialist Payton Miller described it as a raucous bird tornado that lifts off the water.
"All it takes is for me to come out here on a really nice morning where there's a huge morning flight and I'm kind of reminded how awesome it is to see such a large number of such a beautiful bird," Miller said. "I never get sick of it."
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Among those taking it all in was Adrian Binns, a safari guide from Paoli, Pennsylvania, who went to the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area for "the whole enjoyment of seeing something you don't see every day."
Amish birders focus their binoculars on waterfowl March 7 at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Snow geese arrived in growing numbers at the 6,300-acre Middle Creek property since the late 1990s. At this time of year, they just spent months along the Atlantic coast, from New Jersey south to the Carolinas, with many of them overwintering on the Delmarva Peninsula that forms the Chesapeake Bay.
They don't stay long at Middle Creek — it's just a way station on their journey to summer breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic and western Greenland. But for a few short weeks, they are the main attraction at Middle Creek, which draws about 150,000 visitors annually — including about a thousand hunters.
Snow geese take off from a reservoir March 6 at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Population boom
The Pennsylvania Game Commission, which owns Middle Creek, says about 100,000 snow geese roosted there on the busiest day last year, on par with recent peak activity but below the single-day record of about 200,000 on Feb. 21, 2018.
Snow geese are doing well, but their large numbers come with a cost. According to a 2017 study published by Springer Nature, greater snow geese grew in population from about 3,000 in the early 20th century to about 700,000 by the 1990s. By some estimates, there are about a million of the birds now — along with maybe 10 million of lesser snow geese, which are smaller — that also breed in the Arctic.
The number of migrating tundra swans at Middle Creek, while far lower, also increased over time, from a dozen or so in the mid-1970s to 5,000 or more in recent years. Middle Creek birders also identified more than 280 bird species on the site, among them bald eagles, northern harriers, ospreys and owls.
Pairs of tundra swans (larger birds) and Canada geese fly March 9 over the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
As snow goose numbers boomed in recent decades, wildlife officials in the U.S. and Canada navigated a balancing act involving hunting regulations, concerns about crop damage, shifts in migration and changes to overwintering patterns. Environmental damage from overgrazing in the Arctic led experts to conclude that the birds are overabundant.
David M. Bird, a McGill University wildlife biology professor, described the population as "probably one of the biggest conservation problems facing wildlife biologists in North America today." Snow geese feed by pulling up plants by the roots, which damages habitats for themselves, various birds and other wildlife.
Tundra swans and other waterfowl gather March 9 on a humanmade reservoir at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Flu concerns
The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported recently that avian influenza viruses, present in the state since 2022, continue to circulate among the state's wild birds. The game agency asked for the public's help in reporting sick or dead wild birds and reported that about 2,000 wild bird carcasses — mostly snow geese — had to be removed from a quarry a few miles north of Bethlehem in December and January.
Bird said for nature lovers, snow geese can be a delight, but for farmers, they're a pest. For hunters, they're food, but for animal rights advocates, they're a species that needs protection.
"But if you are a paid professional wildlife manager at a municipal, state or federal level whose challenging job is to try to please all of the aforementioned parties," he said, "then you will undoubtedly experience many sleepless nights in the fall when the geese arrive."
Photos show the dramatic dawn flight of migrating snow geese
Early rising birders await sunrise March 9 at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Snow geese take to the sky at sunrise March 9 after a stopover at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
A flock of snow geese arrives March 8 to spend the night at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Amish birders focus their binoculars on waterfowl March 7 at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Snow geese take off from a reservoir March 6 at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Snow geese resume their annual northern migration March 6 after a stopover at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Pairs of tundra swans (larger birds) and Canada geese fly March 9 over the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
The serrated edges of a snow goose's bill helps it grip the plants it eats March 8 near the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Tundra swans fly March 9 in the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Snow geese feed March 6 in a cornfield in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Tundra swans and other waterfowl gather March 9 on a humanmade reservoir at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
Snow geese take off March 6 to resume their northern migration after a stopover at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
