AWA at the Tofield Snow Goose Festival

May 3, 2025

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• Events

Text and photos by Sara Heerema

This year, for the first time, we attended the Snow Goose Festival trade show in Tofield. The festival is a celebration of the spring migration of Snow Geese through Alberta, focusing on their huge flocking patterns in the Beaver Hills Biosphere.

Lindsey and Sara spent the weekend in the small town of Tofield, and met people from across the province who had gathered to show their love for our native bird species. We reunited with and met some of the other exhibitors, like Johane and Wes Olsen, and organizations like Nature Alberta, the Beaver Hills Biosphere, and Ellis Nature Centre.

Throughout the weekend, we chatted to people about issues that are impacting local Albertans and how they can get involved. We highlighted projects that we are pushing back against at AWA, like coal mining on our Eastern Slopes and the threat posed to Caribou by the newly released draft Upper Smoky Sub-regional Plan. Gathering petition signatures and sending people to our website letter-writing campaigns helped to involve more people in the decisions being made that impact our wildlife, our ecosystems, and our health.

After a long day inside on Saturday, we ventured out into the biosphere to see what all the fuss was about. It turns out that the festival was well with the hype –  enormous flocks of Snow Geese were sighted in stubble fields all around us, creating a cacophony of beating wings and squawks as they moved to new feeding grounds. On the drive, we also spotted other Albertan migrants, like the Glossy Ibis, Greater White-fronted Goose, Pintail Duck, and even a Northern Hawk Owl.

We welcomed 36 new AWA members over the weekend, and we are so excited to see them at some of our upcoming events!