The flash of lightning and the crack of thunder interrupted the conversation that Bim Hamer and I were having about 9:00 a.m. on the morning of February 27th, 2009. In central Pennsylvania we usually don’t experience thunderstorms this early in the year, and we commented on it as a heavy rain shower began to pelt the roof of LCS.

In just a few minutes, Phil Allison, one of our talented LCS Shipping Specialists, appeared in the office saying “Your not going to believe what I just saw! I just got off the Interstate and the road to LCS is covered with dead Canada geese – just like they fell dead from the sky! After the three of us quickly determined that crackshot LCS staff member Gary Laskowsky was out of town and couldn’t have been dropping them from long range with his favorite 12 ga., we quickly deduced maybe the lightning flash that had just occurred and the geese came to an untimely intersection. Phil grabbed the office camera and jumped in the truck with instructions to get some good photographs. None of us were prepared for what he was to return with.

Phil’s photographs where incredibly dramatic and revealed a significant number of dead geese littering the roadway – a quick count in one shot showed as least 20 birds, and Phil said there were plenty more that he couldn’t fit in the shots! Again, we all asked ourselves – is it possible these geese were struck by lightning? The tremendous lightning strike, and then Phil driving through the scene about 90 seconds later strongly suggested that’s exactly what happened. Later, LCS staff member John Bravis and local outdoor writer Mark Nale and myself drove to the scene to see what happened for ourselves. We found piles of dead geese that had been removed from the roadway by the State Police, but we also found more dead birds that had fallen off the road in the nearby woods, appearing to have not moved an inch after they hit the ground.

Since the event, there has been much interest over the event with the regional television stations and newspapers reporting the event. The Pennsylvania Game Commission even issued a statewide press release on the event as it attracted so much interest and conjecture! Some biologists from Penn State University concluded the geese must have been caught in a severe downdraft and blown into the ground after noting significant physical damage to the geese, but no apparent burns from a direct lightning strike.

If you’re a waterfowler like myself, you know just how tough Canada geese are. To have fallen from the sky, hit the ground, and instantly die did was just not making sense. Phil drove by immediately after the event and there were no crippled birds flopping around – they were all stone dead. The treeline on both sides of the roadway was intact with no evidence of damage from a severe downdraft or microburst thunderstorm. The final count totaled 56 geese were killed in the event!

So, the investigation continues – something brought the flock down that appears weather related – whether it was lightning, wind, or some other force. If new information comes back from the investigation, we will be sure to update this story.

Until then, take a look at the photographs Phil took, and we think you will be as astounded as was the entire Lion Country Supply staff.