There are pockets of Snow Geese being reported in several locations, so far
between Hwy 417 and the St. Lawrence River. There are no major
concentrations at this time. There is no snow left so birds are free to
feed in any cornfield which makes finding feeding locations harder. It is a
very broad area to cover so being strategic is important, otherwise you
could drive around for an hour or more and see nothing at all.
There are daily reports near South Lancaster. Check Westley's Point along
South Service Rd and cornfields north of there. There have been reports
along Cty Rd 34 at Green Valley in the floodplain.
To the west, some birds have been seen north of Ingleside along Cty Rd 18
west of Osnabruck Centre. Also, from Morrisburg west check along Lakeshore
Drive then continue on to Iroquois in case some are on the river.
West of Berwick, a flock of 1,000+ has been reported on the South Nation
River at Cty Rd. 9.
The Long Sault Parkway is not open at this time of year and the ice is
still heavy along Cty Rd. 2 west of Long Sault.
Note, the majority of Snow Geese are Greaters, which are visibly larger,
side-by-side, than Lessers. Lessers are the subspecies reported in very
small numbers (singles or a few) in Central, Southern and Northern Ontario
although flocks of Greaters sometimes head north along the Ottawa River
through the Temiskaming area.
In the East, possibly up to 5-10,000 Lesser Snow Geese move through each
migration with a temporary concentration of several thousand in the
Winchester and Chesterville areas. Watch for flocks with a noticeable
number of blue morphs which indicates those are Lessers in that flock and
the entire flock of both colours may be Lessers. Blue morphs in the Greater
subspecies are uncommon and in the last 20 years in the East I'd say only
represent between 0.25 to1% of the birds, far less than the 4-5% reported
officially. Maybe there are more blues further east in Quebec. It can be up
to 25% blues in Lesser flocks. Many of these birds look darker than the
Greater blues, almost a blue/black colour. Generally those flocks appear
2-3 weeks after the initial big movement of Greaters.
Finally, we do see a few Ross's Geese with each migration but they are
rare. We also regularly see a few hybrid Ross's x Lesser Snow Geese so
assuming a smaller goose is a Ross's in the East is risky because often
they are not. Most small geese in the rest of Ontario are likely pure
Ross's. Take a picture if you can and ask for clarification.
Brian Morin