Ontbirders,
When reporting Snow Geese, it's important to state the percentages of white
and blue morphs. Two recent posts have mentioned fairly large flocks of
Snow Geese seen near Hamilton and Port Dover. Not long ago only the Lesser
Snow Goose subspecies was seen in Ontario. In recent years, the eastern
Greater Snow Geese subspecies has spread into eastern Ontario (mainly east
of Ottawa and near Cornwall), but now they may be occurring elsewhere in
southern Ontario. A large flock of all white morph Snow Geese in southern
Ontario is more likely to be Greaters because the blue morph is rare in
this subspecies. Flocks of Lesser Snow Geese in Ontario usually comprise
many or mostly blue morph birds. The blue morph is common in the Lesser
subspecies.
Note: With the tremendous population increases of both subspecies, there
has been some mingling, but for the most part they are discrete.
For more information on Greater Snow Geese in Ontario:
Morin, B. 2004. Greater Snow Geese in Eastern Ontario. OFO News 22(1):2-3.
General update and mentions up to 100,000 birds, presumably mainly
Greaters, at Montezuma National Wildlife Reserve near Rochester, NY, in
recent years.
Pittaway, R. 1992. Subspecies and Morphs of the Snow Goose in Ontario.
Ontario Birds 10(2):72-76. Includes information on subspecies ID,
subspecies ranges, morph genetics and frequencies, historical range and
numbers, reasons for range extension of Greaters, etc.
If you don't have these articles, I'm sure that one of your fellow birders
does.
Happy birding,
Ron Pittaway
Minden and Toronto
Jean Iron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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