True March Madness — nearly 1 million snow geese massing 90 miles north of KC

This weekend will mark three of nature's greatest migrations:

Drinkers to bars for Saint Paddy's day. Basketball fans to the NCAA tournament . The third — less known but equally impressive — are the nearly 1 million snow geese that have been descending over recent weeks at the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge some 90 miles north of Kansas City near Mound City, Mo.

Earlier this week, the count was north of 730,000. The white and black birds literally fill the air, along with their nearly deafening sound.

What's that in their wake? Bird watchers, certainly. But the bird migration each year also brings bird hunters from around the world, typically from the third week of February into mid-March. Every season, farmers and other landowners earn tidy sums turning their fallow fields into fields of fire for a virtual army of sportsmen in camouflage, looking skyward for the water fowl.

"Oh my goodness," said Hank Just, owner of Audrey's Motel in Mound City. "In a normal year, we have every room filled for five weeks and three names as back-up for each room. It's hectic."

As Field & Stream put it in 2015, the region up Interstate 29 "goes nuts during snow goose season. Thousands of hunters pack Mound City, Bigelow, Craig, and a handful of other hamlets clustered where Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska share borders. The region’s few hotels are jammed to the rafters. Locals rent out their garages. Restaurants are packed with hunters. The Mound City Dollar General can’t keep cheap groceries on the shelves. Good luck in the supermarket."

Most of the hunters have left the area by now, following the birds north as they migrate. So bird watchers ought to have the migration to themselves. As a bonus, 80 bald eagles were counted on the refuge last week.

After all that, it may be time to hit the bars and watch a bit of basketball.

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 12:51 PM with the headline "True March Madness — nearly 1 million snow geese massing 90 miles north of KC."