The migration is underway at Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area near Choteau, where 30,000-60,000 light geese have been observed over the last several mornings. The swan counts have varied due to wind and wintry weather, but several hundred to over a thousand have been seen in the past few days.
The snow and Ross’s geese counts have been well above average for this time of year, which typically sits at around 15,000-25,000, likely due to the mild winter throughout the entire West.
“The snow goose numbers are close to about double what we usually see at this date," said Brent Lonner, Area Wildlife Biologist for Montana FWP. "Weather conditions throughout their migration path all the way up here are influential.”
Watch the migration here:
Hundreds of thousands of geese travel along their spring migration path, known as the Pacific Flyway, typically coming from central California or the southwestern United States.
The geese use the lake and ponds around Freezout Lake WMA for rest and safety from predators, but the nearby grain fields are what make Freezout Lake a popular stop for bird migration.
The next leg of their journey takes them to their northern nesting grounds in northern Alaska and the Canadian Arctic.
Nancy Milewski has been a bird counter with Montana FWP for 13 years.
“It’s a dream job. I love to count the geese as they get up in the air. I’ve just learned to recognize patterns of either 1,000 or 100,” she said. “The snow geese are predictable in an unpredictable way. They get up in the morning around sunrise, but if they just arrived last night, they may sleep in for a while.”
After waking up, they leave in droves, flock to the fields east of Freezout Lake to feed on leftover grains from last fall’s harvest, then come back a couple of hours later and do it again at dinnertime.
The swans and some of the diving ducks depend on the water much more than the geese.
“We’re seeing fewer of them,” Lonner said.
That’s because of a multi-year drought impacting the Greenfield Irrigation District that supplies Freezeout Lake. This has led to historically low water levels; four of the ponds have gone completely dry.
The spring geese migration has remained largely unchanged over the years, according to Milewski.
“They are so biologically inclined to go north to nest, so there isn’t a lot of impact on spring migration. Fall migration, however, is getting later and later,” she said.
For Choteau resident Bonnie Griffis, this time of year is a chance to share the magic of Freezout Lake with people from across Montana and the country.
“Freezout gets a lot of attention for this specific migration, but Freezeout is an incredibly ecologically rich place. We’re just so lucky to have it here,” she said.
Griffis, along with several other birders, helps organize the annual Wild Wings Festival. It started in 2019 as a three-day celebration of the spring light goose migration through Montana.
The event is not just for avid birders like herself—“You don’t have to be an expert, you don’t have to have really nice equipment. It’s just a cool thing to experience.”
Free guided tours of Freezout Lake will head out each morning, focusing on the light geese activity on the water and in nearby agricultural fields.
“We’re lucky enough to know some of the spotters. They’ll give us a heads up on where they are seeing the most birds so we can watch the lift off,” Griffis said.
With up to 100,000 snow geese passing through each day during peak migration, the sight and sound of these massive flocks taking flight is something to behold.
“It gets people out here," Griffis said. "It gets people enjoying that. They have to appreciate it to want to keep it the way it is. The more people you can make aware of this special place, the more likely they are to want to keep it special.”
Lonner says the last 7-10 days of March are usually the best time to plan your visit to Freezout Lake. Local law enforcement reminds visitors to be smart about highway use. Don’t pull into the shoulders or block roads, as it creates safety issues.
Here is the Wild Wings Festival schedule for 2026:
Friday March 20
2:00-3:00PM: Wildlife Photography For All Workshop. Learn from photographer Talia Azadian on how to get the best photos with the gear you have - whether it’s a phone camera or full camera set. Free at the Choteau Pavilion
4:00-6:30PM: Meet and Greet. Food trucks - El Taco Valle and Jammers BBQ - providing dinner and Choteau American Legion with beverages for purchase. Educational booths from Montana and nationally based wildlife conservation organizations.
7:00PM: ‘Flight of the Swans’ Film. A female conservationist takes to the skies in a paramotor to follow Bewick’s Swans on their annual migration in a bid to understand their dramatic decline; 7,000 kilometers, 11 countries, from Russia to England across tundra, forests, and industrial landscapes, where she encounters people just as passionate about saving and protecting these birds and their wetland homes. Narrated by Academy Award nominee Sophie Okonedo. Shown at the historic Roxy Theatre (25 Main Ave. N).
Saturday March 21
6:30-10:30AM: Free guided tours of Freezout Lake WMA and vicinity targeting light geese activity in the area. Meet at Choteau Pavilion parking lot for van carpool and caravan options. Van space is limited. Please sign up in person at the event registration table Friday afternoon. Anyone is welcome to caravan behind the vans from the pavilion.
10:30AM-5:00PM: Educational booths with Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Boone and Crockett Club, Ducks Unlimited, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, Montana Audubon, Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Montana Dinosaur Center, Montana Discovery Foundation, Montana Wetlands & Waterfowl, Montana WILD, National Wildlife Federation, Pheasants Forever, Rocky Mountain Front Weed Roundtable, Sun River Watershed Group, and Teton Conservation District.
1:00-2:00PM: Join Rob Domenech, Executive Director of Raptor View Research Institute (RVRI), for a presentation that will include a brief history of RVRI’s long-term Golden Eagle (GOEA) research (when it started and why), blood heavy metals analysis (i.e., blood-lead levels) in GOEA sampled in west-central Montana, a summary of wing-tag encounters, and an overview of our satellite telemetry movements of GOEAs, with some standout stories of some satellite-tracked individuals.
2:00-3:00PM: Join Chris La Tray as he tells an Anishinaabe story about snow geese and the interconnected topic of migration of many relatives, human and older than human. Chris is a Métis storyteller, a descendant of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He writes the newsletter "An Irritable Métis" and lives near Frenchtown, Montana. www.chrislatray.com
3:00PM: Raffle - Great prizes from our sponsors! Vortex Binoculars, Red Ants Pants tickets and more! Must be present to win.
10AM-2PM: Choteau Arts Studio Spring Migration Show.
11AM - 1PM: Conservation Grains -- Hands-on flour milling demo, wildlife habitat and grain farming talk and wildlife photography display by Liz Jarvis - 21 2nd St NW, Choteau (around the corner from Choteau Arts).
5:30PM: Doors open for the Old Trail Museum Wild Game Potluck. Museum Fundraiser. Admission is a free will donation. This is a POTLUCK with game and non-game dishes, silent auction, live auction, and 50/50 drawing. Located at the Stage Stop Inn's Rocky Mountain Convention Center.
Sunday March 23
6:30-10:00AM: Free Guided tours of Freezout Lake WMA and vicinity targeting Light Geese activity in the area. Meet at Choteau Pavilion parking lot for van carpool and caravan options. Van space is limited. Please sign up in person at the event registration table Friday or Saturday afternoon. Anyone is welcome to caravan behind the van from the pavilion.
11:00AM-1:00PM: Optics Workshop -- Join Pete Young with Optics4Birding, an online optics business. He'll have some of the latest birding gear to show you and welcomes any questions you have about binoculars, spotting scopes, and everything in between!" At Pavilion. Free.
Noon-3:00PM: Montana Dinosaur Center (120 2nd Ave South, Bynum) open for visitors.
