[Tweeters] Wrangle Island Snow Geese

[Elston Hill]

My wife and I went to Wrangel Island a few years ago and spent eleven days crossing the island in a tundra buggy in August with the superintendent of the reserve and three friends.

The rangers told us that the snow geese from Wrangel Island migrate sooner than the snow geese from the North American continent. Arriving in California at the beginning of hunting season but before other snow geese, they took the brunt of the hunting season. Accordingly, California was persuaded to delay the start of hunting season until both the Russian and North American snow geese arrived.

The trip to Wrangel Island was awesome with very close encounters with snowy owl chicks, polar bears, foxes and musk oxen. Toward the end of our trip across the island in late August, we encountered a large flock of snow geese getting ready for the trip south. We tried very hard to get close enough to take pictures but to no avail. Later that fall we went to the Skagit Valley. We were stunned when we encountered a very large flock of snow geese right along the road. They were not the least bit intimidated when we got out of the car. And even more ironic was the fact that there were hunters close by and the air echoed with gun shots!

Elston