It’s before dawn, and hundreds of people stand in reverent silence in the dark on the shores of Freezeout Lake just south of Choteau. It's cold, and a strong wind whips across the water.
As the sun creeps along the horizon line, it throws pale hues of orange and pink, and the squawking of birds fills the air.
Lisa Hudnutt, a retired local teacher, quickly sets up a spotting scope. The sunrise colors reflect off the white blur of tens of thousands of Ross's geese, snow geese and swans — like a thin layer of snow on the water’s surface.
The birds start to pulse with a nervous energy and a few take off. Hudnutt waves her arms, silently cautioning everyone to watch the lake. Suddenly, following some signal known only to the geese, they begin to take flight.
The white birds look like washed-out flamingos for just a moment before the sunrise color extends onto the snow of Rocky Mountain peaks in the distance. The cotton candy snow echoing the sherbet sky. The flock undulates overhead, rising rapidly and growing quieter as it does, like a cloud coming to life.
Hudnutt, a devout birder, volunteers for this migration event every year, enthusiastically taking groups of people out to see the spectacle.
"It never gets old!" she says.
Yesterday they counted over 30,000 geese. Smaller flocks of a half dozen or so tundra swans flank the geese, their own honking adding to the cacophony.
Hudnutt knows the best bird viewing spot because she’s got a woman on the inside. It’s her friend Nancy Milewski's job to count the birds every morning for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
"It's always a surprise how many are there," Milewski says. "The birds move around quite a lot. We think we know what they have on their little bird minds, but no, the birds decide everything."
Milewski has counted the birds here at Freezeout Lake every year for over a decade. She’s happy to share the birds’ locations. But when asked about her tricks for counting birds by the thousands …
"Ahh, I tell people it’s a state secret."
The birds come to feast on what’s left over from last fall’s grain harvest. At night, they sleep on the lake, safe from predators.
Maggie Carr is a local wilderness outfitter. She volunteered to drive a van full of tourists Saturday and Sunday morning following the birds around. After the morning’s takeoff, she ushers birders back into the van to follow the geese into the fields. As she does, Hudnutt tells the group, "I want everyone to remember that we scored here."
Scored, because we caught the amazing takeoff of the flocks at dawn.
These women helped start the Wild Wings Festival in 2018. It’s a labor of love celebrating Choteau and the birds, put on for one spring weekend every year to coincide with peak migration. It centers around the birds, of course, but local businesses join in with live music events or art galleries hosting bird specific shows. This year is their highest turnout yet, with more than 200 people gathering in the town’s pavilion after the morning’s events.
A team of volunteers cycle through roles on the committee each year. This year is Carr’s turn as chair.
"The festival has a really low barrier to entry. It doesn't matter your age or your physical ability. That's what makes it great," she says.
In Montana it is often said — sometimes as a jab, sometimes as a point of pride — that there are more cows than people. But for the next few weeks, it is geese that will outnumber the human population, at least in Teton county.
