Snow Geese
Posted October 27, 2016 at 5:55 am by Tim Dustrude
Snow Geese on Fir Island – John Dustrude photo
By Louise Dustrude
John and I had some time to spare on the mainland Monday and so we decided to see whether, even though it seemed early, the snow geese were back for the winter on Fir Island.
We lucked out.
It was on the wildlife viewing area on the road west of Conway that we saw the familiar acre-or-more white splotch that means either snow geese or swans. In this case it was geese.
We watched entranced for 45 minutes as wave after wave of snow geese flew in from the northeast and the northwest and landed near their fellows in either the green grass or the cutover cornfield, and we wondered what makes each individual bird choose one type of field over the other.
We know a few things about these fascinating birds, either from observation or from friends or the internet, but we’d like to know so much more and don’t know how to find out. Maybe you know.
I always try to estimate how many acres of birds there are, but I don’t know how to translate that into numbers of individuals. We know they come from Wrangell Island in Russia where they raise their young, and spend their winters here, roughly from November to April.
But why are they so early this year? October 24 might be some sort of record. Or it might not.
Part of what makes them so fascinating to me is that they’re like kindergartners: never still for long, talk-talk-talking all the time, fluttering up and then back down. Sometimes the whole flock takes to the air for no discernible reason.
The swans have their own followers, the Trumpeter Swan Society, but my love is for the snow geese. They seem to act on a whim, flying by a group on the ground and very suddenly deciding to join them, dropping one wing to lose altitude quickly. The swans, by contrast, line themselves up to land like 747s, and then stand around looking stately.
Do the Fir Island farmers welcome the geese, or just put up with them? Do the birds fertilize the land enough to make up for the plants they yank up by the roots?
There must be a Skagit County group that encourages the farmers to welcome them. There must be people who know so much more about these wonderful birds. But repeated internet searches haven’t yielded anything much.
Is there a reader of the Update who knows about them and could tell us more? (Please leave a comment below).
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Categories: Animals, Wildlife
4 comments:
4 comments...
Yesterday morning, there were 6 snow geese on what is known as Kingfisher Lake, sometimes called Brown Lake that runs opposite Kingfisher Lane. They weren’t here long, but what a surprise and treat to see them! Louise, I’m sorry that I have no more info. than this, but it’s fitting that you observed them in Skagit. I’d speculate that the few I saw were on their way to join all those assembling on Fir Island.
Wow, interesting! Thanks, Gay. We don’t typically see them here, but do you suppose maybe some will stay for the winter?
Last year there were a bunch of white birds wintering on School House #2 Road, on the east side of the road near San Juan Valley road. I think they were snow geese. Whatever they are, they are always lovely to watch. Thanks for this post, Louise.
Judy Cumming tells me there will be a talk on the snow geese by Martha Jordan, the well-known trumpeter swan guru, at Christianson’s Nursery in Skagit Valley on December 17 from 11 a.m. until noon. Cost $8 per person. Call for a reservation: 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200.
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