In case you haven’t already heard, the Snow Geese are at last filtering north from the Atlantic Coastal Plain to congregate at the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster and Lebanon Counties.
Compared to recent years, the 2026 spring waterfowl migration has been a bit behind schedule, owing primarily to persisting layers of ice and snow. As the cover melted from regional fields during the past week, Snow Geese were at last able to find sufficient acreage for grazing, and their numbers at Middle Creek increased rapidly.As many as 60,000 Snow Geese have been enumerated in recent days at the refuge.And more than 500 Tundra Swans are making a stopover.When not in the fields feeding, Snow Geese are concentrated around the small area of open water on the otherwise frozen lake, making them easily observed from the Willow Point viewing area. If you’re planning to visit and have a look, don’t wait. The urge to begin their 2,000-mile journey to breeding areas on the arctic tundra is strong, and as soon as conditions permit, they’ll be resuming their excursion. This could very well be an abbreviated stay.
