This wild sound, sound, some liken it to the being of hounds, pours from the sky each autumn along all four North American flyways.

Millions of snow geese are returning from their Arctic breeding grounds, thousands of geese in any one flock.

Snow geese fly high, a cloud of snowflakes against the blue, periodically stopping over

on mass at staging points across the continent.

They're bound for traditional wintering areas along the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts,

and in the Western states and Mexico.

Imagine a visit to one of their wintering sites, whether it be the rice fields of southern Louisiana,

the Scagget River Delta in Washington State,

or New Mexico's Basket-El Apache Preserve.

As we look across a broad expanse of browns and greens, a pattern of dark soil interspersed

with planted fields, our eyes come to rest on one field that appears

snow-covered. A closer look reveals 10,000 or more white-feathered snow geese, covering the field

in one immense flock.

And listen to, when a bald eagle flies over,

and the multitudes take flight in a spectacular avian blizzard.

Their joined voices all but deafening.

There's a link to an amazing video on our website, bird note.org. I'm Michael Stein.