Magic flight: Observing geese migration at Freezout Lake unique experience
Observers watch snow geese fly over Freezout Lake on March 22, 2025. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Snow geese fly above Freezout Lake in Choteau, Montana during their yearly migration north. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Leah Guttman, a Whitefish resident, holds a snow geese feather at Freezout Lake during the migraton. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Bobby Oshaben, a Whitefish resident and artist, paints a plein air piece as snow geese take off from Freezout Lake on March 22, 2025. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
The moon hides behind clouds during sunrise at Freezout Lake. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Thousands of snow geese fly above Freezout Lake in Choteau, Montana during their yearly migration north. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Thousands of snow geese fly above Freezout Lake in Choteau, Montana during their yearly migration north. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Birds rest on the water at Freezout Lake. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Two Canada geese fly near Freezout Lake during the snow goose migraton. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
The town of Choteau hosts a Wild Wings festival every year during the peak snow geese migration at Freezout Lake. (Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
Tundra swans glide across the skies at dusk. (Chris Peterson/Hungry Horse News)
Tundra swans and ducks gather in one of the ponds with Priest Butte in the background. (Chris Peterson/Hungry Horse News)
Tundra swans, snow geese and a variety of ducks gather in one of the ponds at the Freezout Wildlife Management Area. (Chris Peterson/Hungry Horse News)
Snow geese take off from a pond in the gray light of dawn at Freezout Lake. (Chris Peterson/Hungry Horse News)
A flock of snow geese glides in at dusk with the Rocky Mountain Front in the background at Freezout Lake. (Chris Peterson/Hungry Horse News)
I pulled onto a gravel road just before 7 a.m., making my way to the shore of one of Freezout Lake’s many nearby ponds. Just south of Choteau, the area sits among north central Montana’s rolling hills and Great Plains.
Just as the first glimpse of sunlight seeped through a cloudy sky, and just as I stepped out of my car, a deep, loud echo drumming noise took me off guard. I looked to the right and saw what appeared to be a mist of white lift off the lake.
It moved right, it moved left, dancing through the sky with ease and coordination.
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