I checked the sod fields along Lafleche Rd east of Casselman today to see what number of Greater Snow Geese were present. I had about 25-30,000 there on Sunday but today's number far exceeded that total. I did a fairly good count and came up with at least 55,000 birds, mostly Greaters but with some obvious Lessers among them. I had one hybrid Lesser Snow Goose x Ross's Goose. Because the flock was so spread out, over a distance of nearly a kilometre, identifying other geese was not possible.
What was unusual other than the high number, the largest flock I have seen in Eastern Ontario on fall migration was that almost all of the birds were south of the road rather than close to Hwy 417. The flock also started only about 25 metres from the road which is not seen very often. It is worth noting that it was not many years ago that fall numbers of Snow Geese were not very significant compared with those of the spring. Brian Morin Cornwall Directions: From Ottawa take Hwy 417 east, exiting at Hwy 138 (east of Casselman). Proceed a km south to Lafleche Rd. This is an access road for the major dump site and heavy trucks are constant during the week. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - 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
