Feathered Skies W Birders find Colorado’s flyway a migrating paradise BY M A L I A D U R BA N O
“Watching the huge flocks of snow geese swirl down from the sky, amid a cacophony of honking, is a little like standing in a snow globe,” states the All About Birds website from Cornell University. Bird enthusiasts are hoping to experience their own snow globe moment when they flock to the 14th annual High Plains Snow Goose Festival in Lamar for the free festival February 18 to 21. Lamar in Prowers County is along an ancient corridor, designated the Central Flyway in 1948, that runs through the west-central section of the United States and includes Bent, Kiowa, Baca, Wray and Yuma coun-
ties in Colorado. Snow geese and other migrating birds, especially waterfowl, follow broad but well defined migration routes through the flyway each year. The festival began in 2001 when John Koshak, Colorado Parks and Wildlife watchable wildlife coordinator, created the event to educate people about the snow geese that were already wintering in the area. He explains that the snow geese are called “spectacles” because they fly in such huge numbers that are spectacular to watch. “Watching the huge numbers of birds take off from the lake at sunrise is an amazingly incredible sensory experience,” Koshak says. It is one that is worth sharing.
Watching the huge flocks of snow geese swirl down from the sky, amid a cacophony of honking, is a little like standing in a snow globe.
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FEBRUARY 2016
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