Every spring hundreds of thousands of snow geese descend on the plains near Choteau at Freezout Lake for a spectacle unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
It’s an amazing sight to see as this massive migration takes place typically around the end of March as the lake thaws and the geese stop to rest while traveling from their wintering grounds California to their Artic nesting areas.
The Flathead Audubon Society is organizing a trip to Freezout Lake this weekend. Trip leader Bob Lee will meet participants at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 26 at the K-Mart parking lot on the corner of U.S. Highway 2 and Montana Highway 35 in Kalispell. Participants will caravan or carpool to Choteau, arriving in time for the afternoon “fly-out” of the geese.
After dinner and a night in Choteau, birders will head back out on Sunday before daybreak to watch the mass ascension of the geese from Freezout ponds.
After the morning’s birding, the group will return home in the early afternoon, arriving in Kalispell around 5 p.m. on Sunday. The various Choteau accommodations fill fast, so make your reservations early. For more information, contact Bob Lee at 270-0371.
How to get there: From Kalispell, drive 185 miles north and east along U.S. Highway 2 through Browning and turn onto Montana Highway 89 past Choteau.