Today's report of a large number of blue morph Snow Geese along with a similar report last week at Winchester are indicative of the migration of Lesser Snow Geese through Eastern Ontario. Beginning just a few years ago, a significant number of Lessers, the same birds that appear in southern Ontario in very low numbers, began to show up here in the east. They number in the low thousands and are best picked out in mixed flocks of Greaters and Lessers by the presence of many blue morph birds. The white morphs are present in the same flocks and in larger numbers than the blues but are hard to separate from Greaters at a distance. Most flocks are not pure - both Greaters and Lessers will be present.
Blue morphs are also found in the Greater population but are uncommon to almost rare by comparison. When 50,000 Greaters were counted migrating over the St. Lawrence River a couple of weeks ago, only dozens of blues were noted. Blue morphs are very common in the Lesser population however. Because white morph Lessers are harder to pick out in mixed flocks and since all of these birds intermingle, knowing the exact number of Lessers is not possible but a few thousand individuals is quite likely. Lessers appear in migration about 7-10 days after the main flight of Greater Snow Geese. In greatest numbers they tend to frequent the areas of Winchester, Chesterville and Bourget more than other areas to the east. All flocks can be checked for Ross's Geese (a few) and hybrid Ross's-Lesser Snow Geese (also a few). In Eastern Ontario, all small geese need to be checked carefully because they are not necessarily all pure Ross's Geese. Brian Morin _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
