This year’s was the biggest migration of snow geese in the last three winters, Portner said, topping out at around 100,000 on Feb. 18. “It was a colder winter,” he said.

“Snow geese and tundra swans begin their migration when the first new plant shoots emerge in spring. At Middle Creek, this can occur as early as January but typically sometime in February or March.

The geese flying north now are of the “giant subspecies.” They were once thought to be extinct but pockets of the giants were “rediscovered” years ago and they now flourish.

Experience one of nature’s most breathtaking spectacles as thousands of snow geese take flight during the annual Delta Snow Goose Festival, happening Feb. 21-22. Hosted by the Delta Chamber of ...