Early today, Rob stone with called news of a sighting of approx. 10,000
Snow Geese, seen by Herb Houghton in the area of Skinners Lane, Pine Island,
earlier in the morning. Rob later called to report that he had seen a flock of
approx. 5,000 Snows flying in the area of Oil City Rd., which he followed until
they headed into New Jersey. With these birds and thoughts of a Possible
Ross's in mind, Dad (Ken McDermott) and I headed out to see what we could find.
We began checking the Pine Island hot spots and found ourselves all the way in
Skinners Lane. Where the road T's, we turned left toward an area where we had
5,000+ Snows, years ago. At that point a small bridge crosses what is the
headwater of the Wallkill River and takes you onto what was once called the
"Warren Sod Farm". Approx. 300 Yds. up this road, we came upon thousands of
Canada Geese on our right hand side, with Turtle Bay Rd. as a back drop. After
scanning for a bit, we came across a Cackling Goose, always nice to see and a
first of the year for both of us. Minutes later, we found a Pink-footed
Goose!! After 10 minutes or so, about 50 birds lifted off, the Pink-footed
among them. We followed the small flock with our Bins until it split into two
groups in the area of the apex of the arc of Turtle Bay Rd.(This will make
sense when looking on a map). One group set down within view and the other
seemed to continue on but appeared to be coming down as well. We quickly
headed to Turtle Bay, where we did locate some Geese, but were unable to
re-locate the Pink-footed or Cackler. John Haas joined in on the search but by
this time (5:15PM), most birds had flown toward the east, presumably to their
night time digs. Not sure exactly where all those birds go to be honest.
several of us will be out in the morning and will report back if the birds are
re-found.
Good Birding,
Curt McDermott
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