Conway, Washington, USA

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

With Mount Baker seen in the background, thousands of snow geese ascend from a farm field Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009, near Conway, Wash. in the Skagit Valley. According to the Audubon Society, up to 55,000 snow geese winter in western Washington, most gathering in the Skagit River Delta from mid-October to early May. Washington’s population of the geese nest on Wrangel Island in Russia, north and west of the Bering Strait.