LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — It’s almost that time of year again.
In just a few weeks, hundreds of thousands of snow geese will converge on Middle Creek Lake, right near the Lebanon-Lancaster County line.
”It doesn’t look like it right now but this place turns into a completely different location when it’s snow goose season,” said Lauren Ferreri, manager of the Middle Creek Visitors Center and biological manager for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Upwards of 100,000 birds will concentrate on the lake at once.
It’s a stop along the way as the waterfowl leave the Chesapeake Bay and fly north to Canada.
“It creates this kind-of tornado-looking thing and you can’t really see it anywhere else in our flyway,” said Ferreri.
Each year, the phenomenon attracts thousands of visitors over a span of just a few weeks.
Last year Middle Creek saw over 30,000 people in one weekend.
“A lot of local people, people from Pennsylvania but we get a lot of people out of state and historically we actually had people who would call us and say ‘Hey I’m coming in from a different country, when do you recommend I book my flight?’” said Ferreri.
While the geese typically start arriving in mid-February, the Game Commission expects this year’s migration to be a little late.
Ferreri says the peak may not happen until early March.
“Obviously it’s a guess, we don’t always know when they’re coming, we can’t call them or anything but we base it off the weather and what conditions are like,” she explained.
For the first time in two years, the Middle Creek Visitors Center is open to the public.
It’s a spot where you can learn even more about waterfowl.
If you want to avoid the crowds, the Game Commission recommends coming to Middle Creek on weekdays.
Ferreri says sunrise and sunset are the best times to see the geese.
“[At] sunrise, the birds are all concentrated on the lake then they take off about a half hour to an hour after sunrise, and then they all come back to the lake at sunset,” she said.
The visitors center is open Tuesday's through Sunday's. You can learn more on the Pennsylvania Game Commission website.
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