There are so many early arriving white-fronted geese in the Central Valley, it has scientists and waterfowl hunters perplexed. It isn’t unusual to observe whitefronts in small flocks from the Oregon border to the San Joaquin Valley’s Mendota Wildlife Area in late September and early October. What is not normal, however, are the massive flocks that are working dry fields, newly flooded wetlands, and flooded rice fields. The numbers are staggering. What triggered the early migration from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of Alaska is anyone’s guess, but these coveted geese are migrating en masse.