Today Jon Ruddy and I surveyed the Winchester area hoping to see some Snow
Geese. We were not disappointed. There were several large flocks in the
partially flooded fields adjacent to Cayer Road north of Winchester and along
the Morewood Road east of Cayer Road. Our rough estimate is that there were
12,000 birds present (this count was based on a careful estimate of one flock
of 3,000, then extrapolated to similar sized flocks). The vast majority were
white phase Greater but there were many "Blue" phase birds (maybe 5%) and a few
evident Lesser. There were also many thousands of Canada Geese among which we
were able to find 2 Cackling Geese (2 others were present at another nearby
site). Despite careful scrutiny of closer birds we were not able to find any
Ross' Geese, although I suspect some may be present. Many other spring migrants
were present including Killdeer, Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier, blackbirds,
Eastern Meadowlark and praticola Horned Larks. We were not able to access the
Winchester Dump but a nearby field held an adult Glaucous Gull.
Mark Gawn
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