
Snow Geese at Dusk
Posted in Sunday Snapshot, tagged snow geese, sunset on December 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Snow Geese at Dusk
Posted in Birds, Sunday Snapshot, tagged Canada Geese, snow geese on March 20, 2016| 1 Comment »
Canada geese and Snow geese
Posted in Birds, tagged juvenile snow geese, snow geese, snow geese color morphs on November 5, 2014| 1 Comment »
All across the fall season, flocks of Canada geese can be seen heading south. Many stop to forage in the numerous corn fields around here. Though the Canada geese are a common sight, I always watch for other less common travellers keeping company with them. I recently spotted these Snow geese in a field near here. We seem to be on the edge of the snow geese migration path. Seabrooke, who lives to the west of us, never sees any.
The photo below shows a good cross-section of snow geese color variations. There are two morphs of adults present, the all-white and the blue-gray with white heads. There are also a few juveniles. They are the light gray ones with the grayish bill, in the back, and the whitish ones with the dark stripe down the back of the head and neck. Godspeed.
Posted in Birds, tagged Canada Geese, snow geese, spring migration on April 8, 2014| 6 Comments »
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.
Posted in Birds, tagged Chen coerulescens coerulescens, snow geese, spring migration on March 17, 2011| 7 Comments »
About a kilometre down the road from here, the little river that flows past Willow House widens into a farm pond. There have been many flocks of Canada Geese flying over in the last few days and some of them stop at the pond. However, when I drove past the pond yesterday, I spotted something new. Snow Geese have joined the Canada Geese! Snow geese (Chen coerulescens) are a cosmopolitan species, and the most abundant goose in the world, but it is rare to see them here in Southern Ontario. They breed far to the north, and winter far to the south. In December of 2009, I was fortunate to see big flocks of Snow Geese passing through the area on their way south for the winter, and posted about them here, but I didn’t see any in 2010.
It was a nice surprise to catch them setting down for a rest on their journey back north. Most of the geese were white, but there were also a few blue-morph individuals. Here’s an excerpt from my December 2009 post:
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
It is the Lesser Snow Goose (Chen coerulescens coerulescens) that is seen in Ontario. They breed on the coasts of Hudson and James bays and winter in the mid-Atlantic states and south to Mexico. Snow geese form lifelong pairs while on their wintering grounds and can breed into their twenties. On their breeding grounds, the geese form large colonies, with each pair defending a small area around their own nest.
I wish every one of them a safe journey.
Posted in Birds, tagged Chen coerulescens, Chen coerulescens coerulescens, Chen rossii, Lesser snow goose, Ross's goose, snow geese on December 4, 2009| 4 Comments »
In Ontario, the term snowbirds is used to describe people, often retired seniors, who avoid the cold northern winter by migrating to the warmer climes of Florida and other sunbelt destinations each year. This weekend, while driving through rural countryside south of Ottawa, we spotted several huge flocks of the real thing: Snow Geese!
Snow geese (Chen coerulescens) are a cosmopolitan species, and the most abundant goose in the world. It is rare to see them in southern Ontario, however, as they breed in the far north and winter in the south. It is during the migration season that they are most likely to be spotted, often feeding on waste grain in agricultural fields while en route to their wintering grounds. The large flock made quite a spectacular sight, blanketing the ground in white.
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.
It is the Lesser Snow Goose (Chen coerulescens coerulescens) that is seen in Ontario. They breed on the coasts of Hudson and James bays and winter in the mid-Atlantic states and south to Mexico. Snow geese form lifelong pairs while on their wintering grounds and can breed into their twenties. On their breeding grounds, the geese form large colonies, with each pair defending a small area around their own nest.
Ross’s geese (Chen rossii) are a less common breed that often share the Snow geese breeding grounds and join them in their migrating flocks. Ross’s geese are very similar to Snow geese and also hybridize with Snow geese, making them difficult to identify.