Bosque del Apache and Bitter Lake: the months each site’s manager gives for snow geese, the festival, the spring conservation order dates and directions to each.
The months are each site manager’s own, quoted and linked below with the day they were read.
Thousands of snow geese, Ross’s geese, and sandhill cranes spend the night in water to protect themselves from predators.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source
Winter (mid-November through late January)U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source
The refuge’s wetlands provide habitat for thousands of migrating lesser sandhill cranes, Ross and snow geese and about 20 duck species, including northern pintails, mallards, canvasbacks, gadwalls, northern shovelers and four species of teal; cinnamon, American, green and blue-wing.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, read October 14, 2026. Read it at the source
Snow geese – November - MarchU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, read October 14, 2026. Read it at the source
A pin takes a color only in the months the refuge or agency that runs it gives for snow geese. The shaded grid is where people have logged a verified snow or Ross’s goose on iNaturalist in October, in any year, brighter where more have been logged; it maps reports, so it thickens where observers stand.
Due back in NovemberNew Mexico, October
Snow geese are due back at Bosque del Apache in November.
Winter (mid-November through late January) Thousands of snow geese, Ross’s geese, and sandhill cranes spend the night in water to protect themselves from predators.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source
you will find the greatest numbers of birds at the refuge from early November to late January.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source
Light Goose Oct. 17– Jan. 31, ’27New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source
More reports come in November than in any other month. The bars combine every year on record; the twelve month figure runs from October 14, 2025.
129 research grade snow and Ross’s goose reports from New Mexico in the twelve months to October 14, 2026.
Reading this month’s reports from iNaturalist.
December 2 to 5, 2026
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Opens February 1, 2027, in 110 days.
February 1 to March 10, 2027
Light Goose Conservation Order Feb. 1– Mar. 10, ’27New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source
Check the state’s own regulations before you go: permits, zones and dates are the agency’s to set.
Every fact about New Mexico’s snow geese links to the refuge, agency or festival page it comes from, read between October 13 and 14, 2026. Tour routes and viewing areas close for weather, hunts and work, so check the site’s own page before you drive. Report tallies are iNaturalist research grade records of snow and Ross’s geese, which count sightings, not birds. Every state is on the snow goose migration hub.