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Snow Goose festival celebrates birds and their migration

A booth at the Snow Goose Festival showcasing different types of bird nests on Jan. 23, 2025 in Durham, Calif.
Alec Stutson
/
NSPR
A booth at the Snow Goose Festival showcasing different types of bird nests on Jan. 23, 2025 in Durham, Calif.

On the first morning of the annual Snow Goose Festival, the Patrick Ranch grounds were atwitter with activity. Flocks of geese honked as they flew overhead, and the farm's many trees teemed with songbirds. Around the farmhouse and museum buildings, volunteers raked leaves and prepared the land to receive the thousands of bird enthusiasts attending the festival.

The festival hosts local nature lovers and artists, as well as bird experts who lead field trips across the Sacramento Valley.

"You'll see snow geese by the hundreds of thousands, and see hundreds of thousands of ducks as well," says festival organizer Jared Geiser. "And falcons and eagles. [It's] a really bio-diverse landscape."

Jared Geiser, executive director of AltaCal Bird Alliance, stands next to a booth at the Snow Goose Festival in Durham, Calif. on Jan. 23, 2025.
Alec Stutson
/
NSPR
Jared Geiser, executive director of AltaCal Bird Alliance, stands next to a booth at the Snow Goose Festival in Durham, Calif. on Jan. 23, 2025.

Geiser said winter is a great season for birdwatching. The Sacramento Valley is part of the Pacific Flyway, a route used by migratory birds that spans from the Arctic down to South America. Birds, like ducks and the titular Snow Geese, flock to valley wetlands in the winter.

Bird photographer Liam Huber said he's been on the hunt for a specific bird to snap pictures of.

"There's actually a really rare bird . . . called a Vermilion Flycatcher," Huber said. "It's small and bright red . . . and I have not gotten to photograph it yet."

Huber will be leading a handful of field trips during this year's festival.

The impact of bird flu 

This year has been marked by some sadness for bird lovers. Huber said he's seen the ongoing Bird Flu outbreak affect wild bird populations.

"There were places in this part of the valley where you could find, you know, a few dozen snow geese dead," Huber said.

Waterfowl in wetland areas, like flooded rice fields, often carry bird flu and can spread it to other animals through their poop. They can even spread it by breathing as they fly overhead.

A snow goose sign on the Patrick Ranch grounds in Durham, Calif. on Jan. 23, 2025.
Alec Stutson
/
NSPR
A snow goose sign on the Patrick Ranch grounds in Durham, Calif. on Jan. 23, 2025.

"Historically, waterfowl were just very effective transmitters of the virus as they migrated in via their normal migratory pathways," said Maurice Pitesky, a bird flu researcher at University of California, Davis. "This virus is a little different in that we seem to be having significant mortality in wild birds."

Pitesky said Snow Geese in particular have been hit hard, but that conservation efforts have helped keep the birds from being classified as endangered.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 44,000 birds in Butte County have tested positive for bird flu.

Geiser said the large distance between bird watchers and potentially infected birds lowers the risk of festival visitors catching bird flu. Still, the Butte County Department of Public Health advises residents to wear a dedicated pair of shoes when around wild birds and not to touch them.

The Snow Goose Festival lasts through Jan. 26. Events at the Patrick Ranch are free to the public, but the field trips have a sign-up fee.

A bird perches on a sign on Patrick Ranch in Durham, Calif. on Jan. 23, 2025.
Alec Stutson
/
NSPR
A bird perches on a sign on Patrick Ranch in Durham, Calif. on Jan. 23, 2025.

Alec Stutson grew up in Colorado and graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in Radio Journalism, 20th/21st Century Literature, and a minor in Film Studies. He is a huge podcast junkie, as well as a movie nerd and musician.