Wild Wings Festival – Choteau
March 21- 23, 2025 (F, Sa, Su)
Every year hundreds of thousands of white geese (Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese) migrate through Freezout Waterfowl Management Area. Along with them will be tens of thousands of swans. It’s a majestic nature experience!
The nearby town of Choteau sponsors “Wild Wings,” a free community event that includes educational, conservation, and entertaining activities to coincide with the peak of the migration.
Raffles, educational presentations, food, music, and socializing are a part of it, but the highlight is the free guided tours on Saturday and Sunday mornings and the birds themselves. Geese, swans, and other waterfowl are a constant as they lift off of the ponds by the thousands and alight in the nearby grain fields to fuel up for continued migration north.
An additional feature are the nearly ubiquitous Short-eared Owls at Freezout, numerous regional wildlife drive routes, and the spectacular “reefs” of the Rocky Mountain Front.
To experience the migrating geese you will want to go in the last two weeks of March, even if you choose to not attend the organized event. If you choose to go later in the spring, mid-April shorebirds will be returning and multiple active Sharp-tailed Grouse leks are to be found in the region. Several leks are visible from easily traveled roads.
More information is available at: www.wildwingschoteau.org
or contact Sacajawea Audubon Society Board Member Ken Sinay at kensinay@gmail.com.
Affordable accommodations and campgrounds are available in Choteau, but they do get full. So plan in advance. https://visitchoteau.com/where-to-stay/
