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Plan to
Attend the Eleventh
Annual We would like to thank everyone for their participation and help in making our 10th Snow Goose Festival such a success! Welcome to our 10th Year!
This year we have some special new additions to the schedule! The Friday night program is about one of the largest fossil digs in Colorado history – don’t miss it! See a live Black-footed Ferret, an endangered species! Watch the sunset at John Martin Reservoir, hopefully with thousands of geese flying in! And there’s much more!
As of February 9, 2012, there are an estimated 70,000 light geese and 5,000 dark geese in the four counties along the lower Arkansas River, primarily at John Martin Reservoir and Mid Western Farms. About 3-10,000 occasionally at Nee Gronda Reservoir. The birds are moving around a lot from day to day! Again this year, we had a big wave of geese in early December, then the snow and frozen lakes just before Christmas caused them to move on. Since then, the water has opened up and the birds have been growing in number.
The lesser snow geese you will see at the High Plains Snow Goose Festival are part of the Western Central Flyway population that are on their way back to the Canadian Arctic where they nest. This flock winters in southeastern Colorado, New Mexico, the Texas panhandle and northern Mexico.
Lesser snow geese come in two different color phases within the same species. In the white phase, the geese are as white as snow except for the black wing tips. The other phase, called blue geese, is slate gray with a white head. Both have a dark “grinning patch” on the sides of their bill. Ross Geese: Mixed in the flocks of snow geese you may find some Ross’s geese, which look very much like snow geese except that they are about 2/3 the size of snow geese and do not have the grinning patch. Ross’s geese weigh about 3-3 ½ pounds and snow geese weigh between 5-6 pounds. In the arctic, snow geese graze on grasses and sedges that grow in the tundra. While migrating through the prairies of North America, they will also feed on leftover grain in the fields.
Click here to follow High Plains Snow Goose Festival on FaceBook © High Plains Snowgoose Festival, Lamar Chamber
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This is our 10th Anniversary
Snow Goose Festival! We’ve had some great times with good
friends! Sunrises, sunsets, good food, silly jokes, fascinating
speakers, memorable sightseeing, and of course, birds! Last year
we saw 70 species – not bad for February! Thanks to all of you
who have taken this adventure with us! We hope we continue to
learn and explore together for years to come!
Snow Goose Update
In spring, waves of bright white snow geese against an endless blue sky fly into southeastern Colorado. They roost on the scattered lakes on the prairie and feed in the surrounding fields, making the area a favorite rest stop on their annual migration. Lesser snow geese are considered to be the most abundant goose in the world and number at least 6 million. There are four distinct populations recognized.