I am providing an assessment of the overall goose migration not just the Snow Geese. Following up from my previous post there has been a substantial change today. A river run to the west between Cornwall and Iroquois failed to turn up more than a handful of Snows (mostly Greater) in the morning although about 5000 showed up before noon at Ingleside. A turn north on back roads towards Winchester found a number of fields with numerous Canadas and a few fields with a small number of snows. The largest field flock of Snow Geese was in the hundreds. Winchester continues to be the cut off northward for activity because field snow and ice increases from there north and is less closer to the St. Lawrence. Shore ice in the area has deteriorated rapidly with the wind.
There are still numerous Canadas on the river but there was a significant drop with birds being in the fields. In the early afternoon geese usually return to the river so numbers will increase then. I don't know if the earlier large flocks of Snow Geese are still west of Cornwall somewhere or if they moved east along the river into Quebec. Heading east from Cornwall there were few geese but once at South Lancaster both Canadas and Snow Geese were present on the ice of Lake St. Francis (a widening of the St. Lawrence). The area is still frozen except for the shipping channel which is way out there. The conditions are very different from the last few years. Neither species was in large numbers but there were a few thousand Canadas and less than a thousand Snows. North of the river in the fields up to Concession 2 northeast of Lancaster there was only one flock of both species in the fields. Today's strong westerly winds may have been the factor that encouraged the Snow Geese to head further east but without much water on Lake St. Francis there was nothing to hold them. This does not mean the end of the season because it is only getting started. It may take another week or 10 days before we see an increase in the Snow Goose population again as field snow melts, flooding begins and the ice on the river to the east moves out. Rather than dry fields this spring we should have wet ones in many locations which will be good for both geese and dabbling ducks. Brian Morin _______________________________________________ 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
