Arrival of the Birds

Snow Geese stops at Middle Creek Wildlife area in Lancaster and Lebanon counties during their spring migration to colder areas in Canada. We went on March 10, 2018.  There was an estimation of 23,000 birds there that day. All of them were huddled around the middle creek wildlife reserve area. During the time I was there, they flew in flocks of a total of three times. You will hear their distinct cries and massive wing flapping all at once when they take off into the sky and land in another area. Snow geese travel in noisy flocks numbering in thousands. The flocks can change direction rapidly because of the birds can mimic maneuvers of distant flock members and do not wait for cues of adjacent birds. They leave at sunrise to fly to neighboring fields for food, and most of them come back at sunset when they return from feeding. However, there were still a huge amount of birds left during the middle of the day, frolicking in the grass.