There has been a significant change in the waterfowl landscape in the last couple of days. There are many tens of thousands of Canadas staging in the area before heading further north. From Morrisburg west the river is open and geese are spread out along the shore in the river and in adjacent fields. Concentrations are at Morrisburg and Iroquois.
Much of the river is still frozen from there to Cornwall with no open water along Cty Rd. #2 except at Long Sault. Fields have little snow from Iroquois to Morrisburg but the closer you get to Cornwall the more snow there is. Snow also increases to the north once you reach Winchester. There are a few thousand in the Ingleside - Cornwall area but little open water in close west of the city except for Long Sault. There were also a few Pintails mixed in with the Canadas at Long Sault. The Seaway opens on the 26th so the ice breaker will have a channel open for ships before that date. This will hasten the movement of ice down the river. There is open water in Cornwall and patchy open water to the east but the area in Lake St. Francis east of Lancaster is not yet ready for geese. That is where we can expect a concentration of Snow Geese when the main flocks arrive. Snow Geese were in very low numbers from Long Sault west. A few thousand were in Cornwall in fields north of the 401 along Boundary Rd. The main flocks will be along soon and some early movement may come this weekend. By next weekend there should be a good concentration. At this time of the year, Snow Geese are only along the St. Lawrence and in nearby cornfields, usually within 2-10 km of the river. There will be no geese to the north (above Hwy 417) for a while yet. Brian Morin Cornwall _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
