It was too nice a day to stay home so we drove from Ottawa down to the Seaway Valley.
We were treated to a spectacular sight as we drove Hwy #2 from Morrisburg to Lancaster. We stopped at the Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary to see what was there. A few Canada Geese were around but not much else. At noon skeins of geese started appearing from the west, at first they were Canada geese, then many, many skeins, large and small, of snow geese appeared high in the sky about a mile or two to south, over the St Lawrence River. There were a few individual Canada Geese mixed in with the snow geese. We then drove to the Long Sault Parkway on our way to Coopers Marsh. As we arrived at Phillipot Island we saw an ice floe covered with snow geese about 100-150 yards off shore. The racket made a gull colony sound almost quiet by comparison. Depending on your assumptions as to the size of the ice floe, and the density of the geese on the ice floe, the estimate was about 3-5,000 snow geese (±). The floe drifted with the current so we moved to MacDonnell Island to get closer. The cacophony of the geese rose to the sound of a jet engine three times. Each time, every single one of the geese lifted off the floe almost in unison and the entire flock did a ballet in the sky for about 5-10 minutes before settling back down on the ice floe. The first time, the flight swooped down over us, about 100-150 feet over our heads almost obliterating the sky, leaving many calling cards. There were about 5-6 people fortunate to have been there at the right time. One of them said it reminded him of a National Geographic movie. We then went on to Coopers Marsh where there were plenty of Red-winged Blackbirds and 5 Canada Geese, two of which had apparently staked out nesting territory in amongst the slush covered marsh. On our way back to Ottawa at 5pm, the snow geese had formed into loose skeins and were flying overhead just west of Coopers Marsh. Directions: Hwy #2 east from Morrisburg past Upper Canada Village to the Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary. Long Sault Parkway starts just east of Ingleside off Highway #2. Coopers Marsh is on highway #2 just west of Lancaster, East of Cornwall.
