Birding Basics · Field Notes

Field Notes: High Plains Snow Goose Festival
By Mary Taylor Young

"Blue" Goose

Honk if you love geese...

Each winter, a blizzard of white birds settles on the ponds and lakes of southeastern Colorado. They are snow geese, and they wing their way south from the Canadian Arctic to spend the cold months on the plains of Colorado, New Mexico, the Texas panhandle and northern Mexico.

In a perfect example of "build it and they will come", these tens of thousands of snow geese visit the Eastern Plains each year thanks to the many irrigation reservoirs built across the prairie. At lakes and wetlands on a winter morning, the dawn light slowly illuminates dozens of plump, long-necked birds, like a scene from America’s past when large gatherings of wildlife were not unusual.

Snow Goose

For Coloradans familiar with the large, brownish-gray Canada geese that take over parks and golf courses every winter, the dazzling-white snow geese are a stunning sight. Snow geese are smaller than Canadas, with shorter necks. Most are white with black wingtips and pinkish bills, though watchers will notice a few blue-gray birds in any snow goose crowd. Known as "blue geese," these dark birds are not a separate species but a color phase of snow goose.

The many festival offerings will include: a "Taste of Lamar" sampling of fine food fare from local restaurants with live music, a free Wildlife Watch wildlife viewing skills workshop by the Division of Wildlife; guided bus tours at dawn (w/ delicious local breakfast included) and dusk to see the snow geese and many other birds and wildlife; a visit to the Jackson’s Pond wetlands; a presentation with live birds of prey; the Colorado Bluebird Program, an historical look at WPA sites and stories, more about Lesser Prairie Chickens, a program on Japanese Internment, a Camp Amache history presentation, a wildlife photography workshop and a Kid Zone where children can have fun learning more about snow geese and other birds and wildlife.

There will also be a tour of Camp Amache, a World War II Japanese internment camp, and in celebration of the wonderful opportunities for cultural and heritage tourism in Southeastern Colorado, the Heritage Tourism Group has arranged access to many of the premier tourist sites in southeast Colorado on Friday the 23rd and Sunday the 25th, so that visitors can stop, stretch their legs and enjoy these opportunities along the way to and from the Front Range and the Snow Goose Festival in Lamar and even get in a little more birding. Some of these opportunities include: touring the Las Animas Museum, Boggsville, the Rawlings Museum in Kit Carson and Bent’s Old Fort. See the festival website at for more detailed tour information.

Flock Taking Flight

The featured presenter at the Saturday night banquet is "The Bard Of Birding", Pete Dunne, from the Cape May Observatory and New Jersey Audubon Society, who will provide a fascinating look at how birding has changed over the past 50 years! He will also be available to sign one or more of his many books at the Friday night book signing and "Taste of Lamar" festivities at the Shore Events Center in Downtown Lamar. Or, join him for a birding workshop or raptor tour during the festival. (highly recommended!)

So, if you have a honk-ering to see geese, head to Lamar this February. You won’t be disappointed. All tours are first come - first served, so please register and reserve your guided tour seats, early.

For more information, visit Lamar Chamber of Commerce's website or contact the Lamar Chamber of Commerce at lamarchamber@bresnan.net; 719-336-4379, or Linda Groat with the Division of Wildlife, linda.groat@state.co.us or 719-336-6608.