[Tweeters] Snow Geese Movements

[jimbetz at jimbetz.com]

Hi,

   I am by no means an expert in all things Snow Geese - so use this info
with that in mind ... having said that Snow Geese are one of my most
favorite subjects so I end up paying quite a bit of attention to them.

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   My observation is that there are both "local movements" and "migration".
And that one way to notice the difference between the two is by paying
attention to how high they are flying.  I'm saying that if they are
low then the movement should be considered "local" and the direction
they are flying is related to where there is food, a good place to spend
the night, etc.  It's how they are moving today and should not be used
to make statements about whether those birds are migrating or not.
   But just because a particular movement is local - doesn't mean that
the geese you are seeing aren't "migrating" (as opposed to wintering).

   I think lots of them "stop over" here in Washington.  Some stay the winter
(someone quoted 40%) and some move on further South before they decide
"that's enough for this year".  Those stop overs can be days or even a
week or two (more?).
   I have not seen any  study that established whether or not an individual
bird is likely to winter in the same location/area for several years.

   We -do- know this ... Snow Geese don't breed here in Washington (are
there some exceptions?) ... they go North to and even beyond the Arctic
Circle.  Many of them go to Wrangell Island.

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   BTW - I found another capability of eBird this morning.  You can get
"all the photos for a particular area for a particular species".  I was
using Snow Geese in Skagit County.  And when you click on any individual
photo it tells you where it was taken (from the checklist location).
   I have always known I could get info for an area ... just didn't know
it was possible to do that just for the pictures attached to the
submitters' checklists.

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   I can't tell you how it made me feel seeing all of those flocks (flights?)
of Snow Geese at Fir Island yesterday.  There were literally thousands of
birds in just that short amount of time.  It was exhilarating (but that
word doesn't express all of what I felt).  My wife and I say "this was a
GOOD move" whenever we talk about coming here from California.
                                                                   - Jim