If you've taken a drive anywhere along busy Layfield Road or Church roads in Upper Hanover Township the last two weeks, chances are you may have seen an unfamiliar blanket of white along the Green Lane Reservoir.

                And if you live in the area you have no doubt heard the sounds behind it – that chorus of nasal, mono-syllabic honks that belongs to the greater snow goose.

                The geese have been showing up in record numbers this year, according to Wildlife Educator Kevin Crilley from Green Lane Park.  Last week a whopping 22,000 birds were documented roosting at the site.

                "It has been a recent phenomenon here," Crilley said, citing a healthy population for the species which is largely white with black-tipped wings.  "Before this season there would be an average of 3,000 on the ground.  This week we are averaging 8,000."

                Crilley said the birds originate from the high Arctic, above Quebec, where they nest until they make the flight down to winter anywhere from Northhampton and Lehigh counties down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

                As soon as the ice blinds open up, due to thawing, the geese usually want to get moving, and they are typically gone after St. Patrick's Day, he said.  But this year has proven, so far, to be an exception.

                He said the next big staging area for the geese is the St. Lawrence region, before their lengthy flight home.

                They typically eat grasses and grains, but over the last 15 years or so, Crilley said they have adapted to also eating corn stubble.  It is a trait that has made the Green Lane Reservoir area a popular destination.

                The biggest numbers can be seen at the Church Road bird watching area just before dark when the birds come to the open water to roost.  Crilley said the sightings have been a big draw for the park, with the information of their presence spreading fast through online postings.

                He affectionately called traffic backups in the immediate area "goose jams" and said people have routinely stopped him to ask him what the birds are.

                Brian Henderson, of East Norriton, came out to see the geese for himself last week.  

                "I'd seen a few other snow geese in southeastern Pennsylvania this winter prior to this point; mostly flyover birds," Henderson, an avid birder, explained.  "Seeing small quantities in this area is fairly typical.  Thousands staying for multiple days at Green Lane Reservoir is unusual.  [It's] interesting."

                Henderson documented two snow geese with yellow banded collars March 18.  He reported their numbers to the United State Geological Survey/Bird Banding Laboratory, a federal agency, which sent him back a certificate within 24 hours stating the geese came from the Canadian territory of Nunavut's Bylot Island.

                The geese, one of which hatched in prior to 2010 and one prior to 2012, had traveled more than 2,250 miles. 

                "Just the distance they migrate annually; that in itself is pretty fascinating," Crilley said.  "It's quite an arduous journey from the arctic."

                Bird-watchers have also reported seeing Ross's geese, a "rarity" at the park, according to Crilley, as well as tundra swans, ring-billed gulls, Canada geese, and northern pintail and American wigeon ducks, all within the last few weeks.

                Crilley, who has been studying migratory birds for decades, said he spotted two hybridized geese, a cross of Ross's and snow geese, on Saturday.

                George Francois of Pennsburg, a birder with 40-plus years' experience, said he's been a regular at the reservoir to take in the display.

                "[I've] been marveling these past ten days or so, along with many others, at the precedent-setting numbers of snow geese using our reservoir as a resting place on their journey north this spring season," he said.  "We have some amazing birding resources here in the Valley and it is paramount that we respect and preserve them for generations to come."