Oregon Public Broadcasting

For her latest report, Anna King crashed a party. It was a celebration of the region’s early spring. In the rosy-sunlight of dusk, everyone was chatting with old friends, eyeing the opposite sex and eating from a buffet of dried-out corn.

These revelers were Canada geese. Anna King brings us this audio postcard from the McNary National Wildlife Refuge in Burbank, Washington.

Sound: Geese

With Spring just around the corner, thousands of Canada geese are feeding and hanging out at the McNary National Refuge in Burbank, Washington. Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

Howard Browers: “So right now we have a swarm of several thousand Canada geese that are coming in and are headed for the corn field or they may just be headed for the slough here. But it is feeding time. Hi, my name is Howard Browers I’m a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”

Sound: Geese

Howard Browers: “It’s amazing. It’s such a cool sound, such a wild sound I think. I have an affinity for waterfowl. And this time of year you see a lot of different variety of waterfowl because we have birds that have come here to spend the winter. And they will leave in a month or so, so they won’t be here during the winter. So you get the opportunity to see a variety of waterfowl that don’t nest here. They are coming down from places in the north from Canada or Alaska or places like that.”

Sound: Geese

Anna King: “It’s really amazing though. They are just swirling around in like huge tornado groups of geese. They are just descending upon this – what is this it’s like a marshy, pond-y, lake-y thing?”

Howard Browers: “It’s called officially Burbank Slough. It’s created by the McNary Dam downstream the water backs up along the Columbia River and creates this slough so this water is here year round. That’s why in the winter time we are a very attractive area for wintering waterfowl.”

Sound: Geese

Howard Browers: “There’s been a lot of loss of wetlands over the years. Some states like California have lost over 90 percent of their wetlands that were here 300 years ago. Washington is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 percent. Wetlands are often areas that do get developed because they are flat. You know they are probably the second type of diverse habitat except for rainforest.”

Anna King: “We all agree that eagles are majestic, hawks are cool ‘cause they’re like ‘Arrrrrrr I’m a hawk,’ but I mean, a Canada goose? Is there anything that someone in Portland or Seattle could understand that’s majestic?”

Howard Browers: “To me it’s the sound. It’s the sound they make when they are in big groups. Especially if you can’t see them, but you can hear them coming in.”

Sound: Geese Howard Browers: “Sure they can be a nuisance. This is a place where we offer a natural habitat for them to come out and hang out and give people a chance to enjoy them, and they are not a nuisance here.”

Sound:  Geese

Anna King: “What are they saying to each other? Are they saying, ‘I’m here, I’m here!!!’

Howard Browers: “I wish I knew!”

Anna King: “There’s corn over there!”

Howard Browers: “Not only that but they are saying over and over and over again. They’re gregarious, so it’s like a party. They like to talk!”