Right up front and to echo Margaret Bain's comment. Thank you Stan Long for your heads up on the Snow and Ross's Geese and also for your continuing informative emails from Reesor Pond. With out you there may not be much reported from there. Looking forward to your next rarity :>)) and sorry we missed you Margaret.
Ian Cannell and I arrived at the pond just after 12:30 pm today and the first thing we saw were 4 Snow Geese flying north out of the pond. We did not see the Ross's Goose in the pond but did find Cackling Geese, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, N. Shoveler, A. Coots, and A. Wigeons as well as Dunlin, Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, A. Pipit, a zillion Mallards with a sprinkling of Black Ducks among them. We decided to check the fields north of Hwy 7 at the north end of the pond and at the northeast Corner of Reesor Rd and Hwy 7 in a corn field we found the adult Ross's Goose, 1 Cackling Goose and 4 Snow Geese among the many Canada Geese. As we sat there we noticed a hundred or so Geese overhead and among the ones flying north were 2 more Snow Geese, the ones flying west contained at least 2 Cackling Geese and in a large flock of Canada Geese flying south straight towards us at no more than 100 feet was a White-fronted Goose. It and the Canadas flew right past us very close heading towards Reesor Pond but when we went back to the pond 5 minutes later we found that none of the large flock had landed. A bird to watch out for if you go there. The Ross's and Snow Geese were still in the corn field when we passed by again after 4 pm. Directions:- REESOR POND Reesor Pond is on the northwest corner of Reesor Road and Hwy 407 in Markham. It is bounded by Reesor Road on the east, Donald Cousins Parkway ( formerly Markham By-Pass ) on the west, Hwy 407 on the south and Hwy 7 on the north. Exit hwy 407 at Exit number 96 ( go north ) on Donald Cousins Parkway and you will see the pond on the north side of the highway beside Donald Cousins Parkway. Your best bet is to drive up ( north on ) Donald Cousins Parkway to Hwy 7. Turn right ( east ) on Hwy 7 and drive the very short distance to Ressor Road. Turn right ( south ) on Reesor Road and drive down to the gate on your right and park here ( do not block gate ). If you do not see these Geese then check the construction sites north of Hwy 7 as we saw many canada Geese in those areas as well. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON "Sils mordent, mords les" _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdshow.htm ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm
