An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 snow geese, along with 100 or so Canada geese, have gathered for the last several days on a private lake at the Interstate 64 exit at Griffin, Ind.

Sitting on the ice edge and loafing in vast flotillas in open water, the mass defies actual count.

According to Bish Mumford, a Griffin, Ind.-area farmer, the count is more like "two or three gazillion." Those numbers may be more accurate.


While Canada geese spilled into the protected lake some 10 years ago, only recently have snow geese appeared. A count by the Department of Natural Resources a couple of years ago indicated a site estimate of 10,000 to 12,000 snow geese.

"The snows have been coming here for the last couple of years when we have these severe cold spells," said Mumford.

"They like to move as far north as they can as soon as they can, so they'll leave as soon as we get a break in the weather. I expect they'll lift off in the next week."

The flock likely will leave in unison, resuming an amazing migration to the high Arctic breeding grounds, the urge to move regulated by lengthening days. And when they lift off, the multitudes darken the sky, a spectacle that's a sight to behold.

Snow geese regularly display white and blue morphs, plumage variations unrelated to age or gender. Assumed until about 25 years ago to be two separate species, the so-called snow goose and blue goose have now been identified by scientists as a single species.

The Griffin flock, typical of most snow geese, contains a few more white morphs than blue, each dramatic in its own way — one for its brilliant all-white body and black wingtips; the other for its bluish-black body and white head and neck.

The flock gathers on the water in late afternoon, remains for the night and into much of the next day, leaving about noon to forage in nearby wheat fields, and then returns to the water for the night.