The loud honking sound caused me to look up.

I knew from the media that they were at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area ~ thousands of migrating water fowl ~ Snow Geese, Tundra Swans, and Canada Geese.

The news from Middle Creek (8-10 miles from us as the geese fly ) estimated that at the height of the migration (about a week ago) there were 60,000 Snow Geese, 4,800 Tundra Swans, and several thousand Canada Geese on the ground and flying in the air around the sanctuary.

I took these pictures during the height of the migration, which is probably why several flocks were in the air over our place.

I found some interesting facts about Snow Geese on the Internet:

Snow geese are harbingers of the changing seasons. They fly south for the winter in huge, honking flocks that may appear as a “U” formation or simply as a large “snowstorm” of white birds.

They spend the colder seasons in southern coastal marshes, bays, wet grasslands, and fields. Their diet is entirely vegetarian, consisting of grasses and grains, grazed from damp soils or even shallow water.

At winter’s end, they fly north to their breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra.

Pairs mate for life, and produce two to six eggs each year in a shallow ground nest. Chicks can swim and eat on their own within 24 hours, but families remain together through the young’s first winter. Families can be identified as groups during both the southern and northern migrations.

During spring migration, large flocks of snow geese fly very high along narrow corridors, more than 3,000 miles from traditional wintering areas to the tundra.

Snow geese spend more than half the year on their migration to-and-from warmer wintering areas.

~~~

Isn’t God’s creation fascinating?