Hi. To add credence to this post, I, along with my pal Kyle Gage, took part in the Eaton Birding Society's CBC count this past Saturday (the 2nd). Between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. we were positioned south of Geneva a few miles east of Seneca lake. We had counted large flocks of snow geese all day - ranging in size from 50 to 600 to 2,000. However, and to our utter amazement, around 3:45 p.m. as we stood in a field a few miles south of Geneva, NY and a few miles off the east side of Seneca lake we saw - flying from northeasterly to southwesterly direction - a literal "invasion" of snow geese!! The "hoards" just kept coming and coming and coming and coming and coming..........thousands and thousands of birds!! And just beneath these flocks, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, were flocks of thousands and thousands more - they too, kept coming and coming and coming. We were both awestruck and dumbfounded. To borrow a phrase from another text we were "incredulous with sheer joy and wonder"!!! I have never seen such a spectacle in my entire life...... We were trying to count this vast amount and we broke them up into groupings of one hundred birds. We finally decided on an estimated of close to 500,000 birds. A big "discussion" ensued at our final CBC tally because some doubted our number. Kyle and I stuck to our guns and argued our case...... We finally decided to error on the side of caution and the consensus was to list the number at 200,000. What saved the day for Kyle and I was a fellow birder who was present and mention that Kevin McGowan had taken an aerial view of a massive number of snow gees at the north end of Cayuga Lake about 8 or 9 springs ago and, with the help of a computer, estimated the total number of snow geese at around 900,000. Anyways, I was very glad to witness this spectacle and will never forget it. Pete Saracino
On 1/4/2016 2:11 PM, Ray Zimmerman wrote: > Sorry for the late post, but around noon on Sat 1/2/16, as I returned > to Ithaca from Auburn on Rt 34 I came across a field full of > thousands, and I guessed probably 10’s of thousands of snow geese > between Scipio Center and Genoa. Initially the flock was on both sides > of the road, but part of the flock flushed and moved to the west side > of the road during the 10 min or so I spent watching before I had to > move on, but I did get some video … > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/vqvoccmf1371yi3/IMG_2577.MOV?dl=0 > > /(download the video for the best quality)/ > > — Ray > > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- > > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com> > Version: 2016.0.7294 / Virus Database: 4489/11322 - Release Date: 01/04/16 > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --