Each spring, I await the arrival of the first Red-winged Blackbird with great anticipation. From there, spring is a series of birdy firsts. First robin! First grackle! First cowbird! First Song Sparrow! First pair of Hooded Mergansers on the river! First Turkey Vultures! First Great Blue Heron! First woodcock!
And then there are the geese. As they travel north, hundreds stop to forage in the stubble of the many corn fields hereabouts. Mostly, there are huge flocks of Canada geese on the move. But some years, there are Snow geese as well. This year, there have been many Snow geese travelling with the Canada geese.
These Snow geese in flight are easy to identify, with their black-tipped wings. However, Snow geese come in two morphs, or color patterns. White adults have black wing tips and pink bills, with a blackish ‘grin’ patch. Their feet and legs are pink. Blue-morph adults have a white head and upper neck while their bodies are dark bluish-grey. They may have white tail feathers and varying amounts of white on their belly.
While the Canada geese will nest in Southern Ontario, the Snow geese will carry on far to the north, where they will nest along the shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay.
Willow House Chronicles 
My heart’s all pit-a-pat seeing your photos of the Snow Geese — I’ve never seen them before.
At first I was wondering if there were a few ducks standing on the bank with the geese, but after reading your entire entry, now knowing enough to look for white heads on dark necks, I can count four blue-morphs (and a headless fifth) in the foreground of the bottom photo. Thanks!
I was quite thrilled the first time I saw snow geese too.
beautiful birds, what a thrill to see snow geese!
Hi dadirri7, yep, pretty cool.
Very cool! Watch for Ross’s Goose amongst them. http://10000birds.com/rosss-goose-the-little-snow-goose.htm
Thanks for the link, great info. I thought of that, but didn’t know if we would be too far east to get Ross’s. I’ll try to watch for them.