Snow geese are due back at Middle Creek in late February. The high count there last season was 65,000, on March 6, 2026.

Snow Geese in Pennsylvania: Where and When to See Them

Q: Where can I see snow geese in Pennsylvania?

Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area (Feb and Mar). The months are the ones its manager gives for snow geese, and the site links its source and a map search for directions.

Q: When are snow geese in Pennsylvania?

The site's manager gives February and March as the months for snow geese. In the words of the source: "In recent years, more than 100,000 snow geese, 10,000 tundra swans, 10,000 Canada geese, and a wide variety of ducks have stopped at Middle Creek while pushing north to their breeding grounds."

Q: How many snow geese are at Middle Creek?

The latest count at Middle Creek was 600, on March 10, 2026, and the high count that season was 65,000, on March 6, 2026. The site's count page carries each new count as the season runs.

Q: Is there a spring light goose conservation order in Pennsylvania?

Not in spring 2027: the order is suspended for 2027. Maryland Department of Natural Resources: "The Conservation Order has been suspended for 2027 after agreement from the eight participating hunt states, Quebec and Ontario."

Q: How often are snow geese reported in Pennsylvania?

iNaturalist holds 809 research grade snow and Ross's goose records from Pennsylvania over the last ten years, 145 of them in the twelve months to October 14, 2026, and more are logged in February than in any other month. They count people's sightings, not birds.

Q: How do you tell a snow goose from a Ross's goose?

By size and bill. Cornell Lab of Ornithology: "A diminutive version of the familiar Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose is also white with black wingtips but has a shorter neck and stubbier bill."

Middle Creek: the months its manager gives for snow geese, the counts, the 2027 order suspension and directions to it.

Snow geese in Pennsylvania in October

From the managers’ own pages

Due back in February

In October

At Middle Creek

Feb and Mar

Months at the site

From the site's manager

65,000

Last season's high count

Middle Creek, March 6, 2026

Suspended

Spring conservation order

Suspended for 2027

The months and counts are the site manager’s own, quoted and linked below with the day they were read.

Where to go

Where to see snow geese in Pennsylvania

Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area

Pennsylvania Game Commission

Snow geese: Feb and Mar

Latest count: 600 snow geese on March 10, 2026. The count page
Season high: 65,000 snow geese on March 6, 2026.
Getting there: Directions in Google Maps

The best times to view snow geese on the lake are sunrise (before they leave to feed in neighboring fields) and sunset (as they return from feeding to roost).

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

Generally, the birds, when conditions permit, begin to arrive in late February or early March.

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

On the map

Pennsylvania snow goose sites by month

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.

Through the year

When snow geese are in Pennsylvania

Due back in FebruaryPennsylvania, October

Snow geese are due back at Middle Creek in late February.

AugAway
SepAway
OctAway
NovAway
DecAway
JanAway
FebStaging
MarNorth
AprAway
MayAway
JunAway
JulAway

In recent years, more than 100,000 snow geese, 10,000 tundra swans, 10,000 Canada geese, and a wide variety of ducks have stopped at Middle Creek while pushing north to their breeding grounds.

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

Snow geese: 100,000 on 2/18/25

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

While we have all been curious the numbers were going to increase, we didn't expect 65,000 snow geese to be on the lake this morning.

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

When people report them

More reports come in February than in any other month. The bars combine every year on record; the twelve month figure runs from October 14, 2025.

809 research grade snow and Ross’s goose records from Pennsylvania over ten years, by the month they were made, August first. Most are logged in February; the rose bar is October. A record is a person’s photograph confirmed by others, so the bars count sightings rather than birds.

145 research grade snow and Ross’s goose reports from Pennsylvania in the twelve months to October 14, 2026.

Reading this month’s reports from iNaturalist.

The spring order

The light goose conservation order in Pennsylvania

The spring conservation order is suspended for 2027.

The Conservation Order has been suspended for 2027 after agreement from the eight participating hunt states, Quebec and Ontario.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

The states it covers, in the notice’s words: “As of 2026, eight states in the Atlantic Flyway held the Conservation Order including Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.”

Check the state’s own regulations before you go: permits, zones and dates are the agency’s to set.

Pennsylvania snow goose questions

Where can I see snow geese in Pennsylvania?

When are snow geese in Pennsylvania?

How many snow geese are at Middle Creek?

Is there a spring light goose conservation order in Pennsylvania?

How often are snow geese reported in Pennsylvania?

How do you tell a snow goose from a Ross's goose?

Snow geese in other states

Snow geese in every stateWhere the flocks are this month, the map of every site, and the conservation order dates.Duck migration in PennsylvaniaThe waterfowl counts the refuges publish each week.Eagle watching in PennsylvaniaThe winter eagle sites and the months to visit them.Snowy owls in PennsylvaniaWhere the winter owls are reported in the state.Waterfowl season in PennsylvaniaThe duck and goose season dates for the state.

A flock of white geese resting on a tidal marsh in soft early light, low grass and still water in the foreground — Snow geese on the marsh at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, early in the day. “Snow Geese at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (50863160056)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (Keena Graham, USFWS), Public domain

Every fact about Pennsylvania’s snow geese links to the refuge, agency or festival page it comes from, read on October 13, 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.