Greater Snow Geese have arrived en masse as of the weekend, a full two weeks earlier than expected and record early in large numbers. Another large flight may take place by next week. There is virtually no ice on the St. Lawrence and little or no snow in the southern part of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry .
Birds were being seen in flocks of a few thousand late last week north of Morrisburg. Yesterday, heading south on Cty Rd 31 from Winchester there were flocks of geese both in the air and on the ground for about 10 km. Most were Snow Geese. There were no massive flocks but numbers up to 1000 could be seen in some flocks and there were quite a few of them. Areas east of there to past Chesterville and locations along the South Nation River can be checked. Today there was a flock of about 5000 north of Cornwall for a few hours, but no Snow Geese whatsoever were seen from there to Lancaster or at Green Valley. 5 km east of South Lancaster there were about 10,000 1/3 of the way across the St. Lawrence, which is wide open. There is no bay ice to attract them closer to shore. Areas closer to Hwy 417 and further north still have enough snow cover to deter flocks from advancing. For now the birds will stay closer to the St. Lawrence but the river is not where you will find many during the day. They are all heading to fields of corn stubble. For now there are no birds on the sod farm along Hwy 138 so best bet is Winchester to Chesterville. Brian Morin _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] 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
