By RALF GRUENKE
Thousands of snow geese may be observed on Saturday, the annual Snow Goose Day, at Gunnison Bend Reservoir, just west of Delta.
Spotting scopes will be set up at the reservoir and division biologists will be available to answer visitors' questions. Division staff will also direct visitors to nearby fields where the geese are feeding.
'The day is an opportunity to witness the awesome spectacle of thousands of these magnificent birds as they stop over to refuel on their way to their nesting grounds far to the north,' said Bob Walters, Watchable Wildlife program coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources.
The birds typically stay in the area for a couple of weeks, Walters said.
Walters said the appeal of Snow Goose Day is that not only one individual bird can be seen, but thousands of them.
'There's something about numbers of individual species that seems to be fascinating to us human beings,' Walters said.
Earlier this week, about 2,000 geese had been counted in the area. 'These numbers will build up by Saturday,' Walters said. He said there may be approximately 5,000 geese, maybe even 9,000 or 10,000.
'I'm optimistic, but you never know. It's nature we're talking about, so it's not totally predictable,' Walters said.
Snow geese are very beautiful birds, Walters said. 'They are large, white birds with black wing tips.' Seeing them in large groups is a very unusual event, Walters said. 'Let's face it, that's not something you see every day.'
This year's Snow Goose Day will be the third time the event is taking place. Walters said even though it's difficult to estimate exact numbers, it's almost certain the geese keep coming back every year.
'Nature tends to be incredibly consistent,' Walters said.
Geese are more driven by daylight hours than weather conditions, he said. 'As humans, we just look out the window, see some snow and say it's still winter. Geese don't work that way,' Walters said.
Viewing will take place from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. The geese usually feed in the early morning and fly back to the reservoir between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., said Lynn Chamberlain, information and education manager for the Division's Southern Region.
The geese typically fly back to the fields between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., he said.
Walters said he is not concerned about human spectators disturbing the geese if they stay in the spotting scopes made available to visitors. In the past years, only about 50 people came to see the geese, but this year he expects up to a couple of hundred spectators because the event was made more public.
For more information about Snow Goose Day call Walters at (801) 538-4771 or the Southern Region Office at (801) 586-2455.