A major flight of Snow Geese occurred today on the sod farm east of Casselman, about 30 minutes east of Ottawa. This is the traditional fall staging area that last year hosted Ontario's first Pink-footed Goose as well as all of Ontario's other regularly sited species.
The geese are late, with only hundreds to a few thousand being seen until today. There were none present early this morning but about 25,000 at 10:00 and over 60,000 by noon. Most were Greaters with Lessers present and a small goose that could have been a Ross's or a hybrid. It was only seen in the air. A few kilometres away north of Ste. Rose near Larose Forest there were 62 Sandhill Cranes. This is not an area where cranes are normally seen. They were very skittish and were observed a field away. Brian Morin Directions: The Manderly sod farm is east of Casselman. Exit Hwy 417 at Hwy 138 and head south to Lafleche Rd. Turn right. This road is busy with heavy trucks heading to the landfill during the week. For Ste. Rose take the same exit and head north to Conc. 20. Turn left (north) on Ste. Rose Rd and continue until the forest. The birds were in fields on both sides of the road. Last seen to the west, two fields in. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - 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 Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
