How to tell it's a snow goose Snow geese are hard to miss. They're a big bird with a 4.5-foot wingspan and usually gather in large numbers, according to the Audubon Society.

The 24th annual Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway starts on Thursday Jan. 25, ... Arctic-dwelling snow geese migrate as far as 6,000 miles to the Sacramento Valley every winter to feed.

Bird lovers from all over the north state flocked to southwest Butte County — with Patrick Ranch as the focal point — Saturday morning for the third day of the 25th Snow Goose Festival.