Wednesday, December 2, 2009

December 2, 2009 Eastern Ontario: Greater Snow Geese

Spent a few hours birding east of Ottawa today. There were still 48 Sandhill Cranes along Milton Road just south of Perrault Road on the west side of Milton Road. Near the intersection of Hwy. 417 and Hwy. 138 east of Casselman, thousands of Greater Snow Geese were visible from Hwy. 138, south of the 417. Between the 417 and Moose Creek, 10-15 000 Greater Snow Geese were observed with no difficulties. They spent most of their time feeding in the open fields or flying from one area to another. It was truly an incredible sight. There were 150+ blue morph Greater Snow Geese. Also of interest, I was able to record 15 neck banks and reported them to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. It will be interesting to see where these geese were banded. Also, I observed 1 Snowy Owl in the St. Rose area.
Good Birding, Bruce

Directions:(Snow Geese) Take Hwy 417 east of Casselman and exit at #58 and go south. Watch on the right for a white mass of geese.

Directions:(Sandhill Crane) From Ottawa take Hwy. 417 east to exit 96 . Go north for 2 km on Boundary Road to Russell Road (Regional 26). Turn right onto Russell and drive 3.5 km to Milton Road (Regional 31). Turn left on Milton Road and go about 2 km to the bridge and start looking as you head north!




Greater Snow Geese in flight over Hwy.138



Prior to the mid 90's Greater Snow Geese were only reported in large numbers during spring migration in eastern Ontario.


Close-up views of a flock.


Over 10,000 Greater Snow Geese were observed in flight.


While resting on water I was able to record a number of neck bands.


A close-up view of neck band A2A7. It's very important to record and report neck bands.


Blue morph Greater Snow Goose.


Heads up!


Endless flocks of Greater Snow Geese.

White and Blue morph Greater Snow Geese.


A few Snowy Owls have been reported east of Ottawa.


This individual was very tame.

1 comment:

Jo-Anne said...

Re: Snow Geese ... Where's Waldo? lol

Great photos of the Snowy Owl as well - my favourite is the last photo.

:)