Here's how many snow geese were reported at Middle Creek this season

Mild winter temperatures reduced peak snow geese numbers at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area for the second year in a row, but staff emphasize the changing numbers reflect shifts in migratory timing, not a drop in waterfowl populations.

Brian Collett, an environmental education specialist at Middle Creek, said snow geese are always anxious to go north, so mild winter weather in the Finger Lakes region results in the birds spending less time in and around Middle Creek’s 400-acre lake.

“You end up with almost more like a conveyor belt effect where they’re just kind of rolling through and headed right up there,” Collett said.

Warmer temperatures mean more open water options for migrating birds, Collett said. “They’re just a whole lot more spread out on the landscape.”

Peak numbers for the season stand at 70,000 snow geese, recorded the weekend of Feb. 24 and 25; 825 tundra swans, recorded March 1; and 2,300 Canada geese, recorded Feb. 27.

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Middle Creek staff posted their last migration update of the season on March 11, and Collett said numbers started to head downward at the start of March.

The Middle Creek visitor center moved its opening day to Jan. 16 this year in response to warming trends that had moved the peak snow geese sightings into late January the prior season.

Although this season followed a more typical course, with snow geese beginning to arrive in February and peak numbers coming in late February, Collett said the visitor center is likely to open early again next season.

The date is not yet set in stone, but Collett said staff have been discussing Jan. 21, the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Day, as a potential opening date.

Although the winter waterfowl migration that brings thousands of snow geese, tundra swans and Canada geese is Middle Creek’s best-known migration season, the spring brings lots of migrating songbirds, like warblers, and the area will see grassland birds, such as meadowlarks, as well.

“The birds never really stop coming,” Collett said, “There are still some other cool waterfowl around right now in the duck world.”