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The first published account was by BruceDi Labio (1987). Ron Pittaway detailedthe status of the birds in 1992 (Pittaway1992), and an update was presented byMorin in 2004 (Morin 2004).

From the first reported sighting of 580birds at Riceville, by Bruce Di Labio in1986, the annual flocks have grown tobetween 70,000 and 100,000, spread overthe southeastern portion of the province.During that same period, from the mid1980s to 2009, the Greater Snow Goosepopulation has grown from about 300,000to over 1.4 million (Canadian WildlifeService (CWS) Waterfowl Committee2009). Although the number of migrantGreater Snow Geese has increased dramat-ically in eastern Ontario and continues torise, there

GREATERSNOWGEESEIN

EASTERNONTARIOBrian Morin and Jack Hughes

Greater Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens atlanticus) havebecome a regular feature of spring

migration in eastern Ontario.

Photo by

Photo: Brian Morin

has not been a corresponding expansionof the area in which the birds are appear-ing. Most sightings still occur within 70km of the Ontario-Quebec border, withthe highest concentrations usually beingreported from sites northwest and north-east of Cornwall as far as the OttawaRiver. Snow Geese are less commonlyseen in other areas from Kingston toOttawa, with generally only a few indi-viduals or small flocks appearing there fora brief time each year. Most of the birdsreported west of Kingston are probablyLesser Snow Geese (C. c. caerulescens), andtheir numbers are small.

In the springs of 2007-2009, sightinginformation was obtained from overthree dozen observers. Reports on theOntbirds listserv were also noted and

personal observations were detailed. Dur-ing this period, it was possible to developa greater understanding of where thebirds were concentrating, their numbers,and daily movements between roostingand foraging sites. A few additional noteshave been added from the beginning ofthe 2010 migration season.

Migration The timing of arrival in Ontario is fairlyconstant from year to year, with the firstbirds appearing by mid-to late March.The spring flight typically begins withsmall flocks appearing in open wateralong the St. Lawrence River west ofCornwall near Long Sault. The river runsfaster here and as the ice retreats, the areaalong the Long Sault Parkway can host

Figure 1. Abundant fieldsof corn stubble in eastern Ontario often attract geese. Photo: Brian Morin

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several thousand geese in the early part ofthe season. The river to the east of Corn-wall starts to open shortly after and thebroad portion of the river close to theQuebec border, known as Lake St. Fran-cis, has hosted over 15,000 birdsbetween late March and mid-April. Thisportion of the river remains an attractionuntil the ice moves out, which can be asearly as the beginning of March or as lateas early April. At that point, most ofthese birds either head into Quebec orrelocate to other areas in eastern Ontario.Once the ice is largely gone, only a shal-low area east of Lancaster near Bainsvillecontinues to attract 5-10,000 roostinggeese for a few more weeks.

When the main flocks of GreaterSnow Geese arrive, usually in late Marchor early April, most of the fields are freeof snow. Geese disperse across the abun-

dant fields of corn stubble in the region(Figure 1), where they feed intensively tobuild up fat reserves needed to continuetheir migration north to the breedinggrounds. While the potential foragingsites are many, preferred locations tendto be those along a few flooded creeks orrivers or near sewage lagoons and agri-cultural ponds (Figure 2). During thepeak of the season, many of the geese usethese water features for roosting ratherthan returning to the St. Lawrence orOttawa Rivers at dusk. The OttawaRiver opens later than the St. LawrenceRiver so concentrations in bays east andwest of Hawkesbury appear after thelocations to the south. Although flocksare seen in areas other than those shownin Figure 3, these are the roosting andforaging sites used most regularly inrecent years.

Figure 2. Flooded creeks and fields are a significant attraction for migrant geese. Photo: Brian Morin

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The use of southern sites diminishesas the season progresses, with activity atareas closer to the Ottawa River usuallypeaking a couple of weeks after thosealong the St. Lawrence River. By earlyMay, the reports dwindle to a trickle asbirders shift their focus to songbirds, butthat doesn't mean the Snow Geese haveleft the region. The Canadian WildlifeService conducts an annual one-day aer-ial survey of the population over easternOntario and southern Quebec in lateApril or early May. Results during threeyears show that most of the birds are stillpresent during the time of the surveys(approximate totals: 2007 - 20,000 ,2008 -51,800, 2009 -61,500). By mid-May, however, very few geese are beingreported and by the end of May, onlythe odd straggler is seen.

Daily Activity The daily pattern of activity for migrat-ing Snow Geese consists of morning andevening foraging flights, mostly to agri-cultural fields, and periods resting onwater at mid day and overnight. On hot,sunny days, especially later in the seasonas fields begin to dry out, Snow Geesetend to spend less time in fields andmore time at roosts between their morn-ing and evening foraging flights. Anyonewho has watched flocks of Greater SnowGeese in eastern Ontario knows thatthey tend to be very active, moving fre-quently among the locations shown inFigure 3. The exception seems to occurduring inclement weather when theyspend much of their time on the ground.This is quite different from CanadaGeese (Branta canadensis), which may

Figure 3: Greater Snow Goose Spring Staging Area Brian Morin

98 Ontario Birds August 2010

remain in an area for longer periods oftime. Usually it is necessary to check sev-eral sites to locate flocks of 5,000 ormore Snow Geese. Occasionally, GreaterSnow Geese will concentrate in verylarge flocks of 20,000 -50,000. This wasprincipally noticed during the springmelt when creeks, smaller rivers andadjacent fields were flooded. Such con-centrations will also occur in the first fewdays of the migration.

Spring 2007 This was a typical spring for GreaterSnow Goose migration. Several flocks ofa few hundred were reported on 24March, mainly in areas north of Hwy.417, but also a flock of 250 observednear Kemptville, west of the normalrange. The next day, 2,000 were seen atNorth Lancaster. Then on 6 April, CWSstaff reported 4,000 along Hwy. 417 eastof St. Isidore and 10,000 there on 8April. Tens of thousands were jammedinto the municipal ponds at St. Isidoreon 11 April, where the birds were quite aspectacle at liftoff. Several Ross's Geese(C. rossii) joined the flock at Alfredbetween 7 and 12 May. The final reportof the spring was a lingering bird atAlfred on 28 May.

Spring 2008 Eastern Ontario experienced an excep-tionally heavy snowfall in the winter of2007-08, which produced significantflooding during the melt. The appear-ance of the first large flocks of geese wasdelayed until early April because of theheavy snow cover, but once the birdsarrived, concentrations were spectacular.

The first major reported sighting was on15 April, when 22,000 were seen atGreen Valley (Figure 4) and 30,000+ atFournier, on the South Nation River.The South Nation River between Fourn -ier and Riceville continued to be a mag-net for large numbers of geese for a cou-ple of weeks, with a high of 50,000counted on 17 April.

Seasonal flooding also occurs eachspring south of Alexandria along RivièreBeaudette and east of Bourget alongCobbs Lake Creek, but was greater thanusual in 2008, and large flocks wereobserved at both locations (Figure 5).The last report of large numbers was5,000 on the St. Lawrence River atBainsville on 5 May. A single bird closedout the season at Embrun on 16 May.

A unique sight occurred on 7 Aprilon the St. Lawrence River near Gray'sCreek at the eastern end of Cornwall.Close to midnight, bathed in the glow ofstreet lights, hundreds of Greater SnowGeese could be seen floating downriveron ice flows while hundreds more restedalong the ice edge. Many of the birdswere vocal and a few occasionally tookflight. It is not the scene one mightexpect from birds gone to roost.

Spring 2009 The season was characterized by a veryearly start to migration. The first flock ofabout 250 appeared on 7 March alongthe St. Lawrence River west of Ingleside,and the first report of 1,000 was on 12March at Williamstown. Large numbersbegan to appear by mid-March, and on17 March 22,000 were observed on theSt. Lawrence River at South Lancaster.

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Figure 4. Greater Snow Goose flock on the St. Lawrence River nearBainsville, 2006, as seen on the annual Canadian Widlife Service aerialsurvey of waterfowl in eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec in lateApril or early May. Photo: Jack Hughes

Figure 5. Part of a flock of 22,000 birds along the flooded RivièreBeaudette, 2008. Photo: Brian Morin

This is an early date for a flock of thatsize. The largest flock of the season wasbetween 40,000-50,000 reported alongHwy. 417 near St. Bernardin on 3 April,but possibly the largest number of birdsever recorded on a single day was on 4April. Tyler Hoar's party made a concert-ed effort to count as many birds as possi-ble and hit many sites from Casselmaneast. They estimated 88,000 GreaterSnow Geese in 39 flocks. Because theydid not cover all key areas due to timeconstraints, and knowing later that a sig-nificant flock was present at Chesterville,outside the area of coverage, a fair assess-ment would be that over 100,000 birdswere present in eastern Ontario that day.

The last significant report (again like-ly due to shifting birder interest in May)was from the CWS survey on 4 May.There were still roughly 61,500 birdspresent at 10 sites in eastern Ontario,with the largest concentration being18,000 geese in two locations along theSouth Nation River near Chesterville.The final report of the spring was of twolone birds seen at lagoons in Alfred andMaxville on 15 June.

Spring 2010 While the study period did not cover the2010 migration, it is interesting to notethat the first flocks appeared only a fewdays later than in the very early 2009 sea-son. A Pacific El Nino event led to a mildand dry second half to Ontario's winter.This contributed to a very early icebreakup in late February and an earlysnow melt. The birds were not influ-enced by ice conditions in the St. Law -rence, snow in the fields or by flooding,

all factors that normally affect earlymovements. Greater Snow Geese arrivedin Ontario in the tens of thousands on15-16 March. Few significant sightingswere reported after that, indicating thatmost of the flock may have movedthrough the region very quickly thisspring.

Blue Morphs and Lesser Snow Geese A very small percentage of the GreaterSnow Goose population is blue morphs(less than 2%) compared to over 50% ofLesser Snow Geese from eastern Arcticcolonies. In a flock of 10,000 SnowGeese in eastern Ontario, one mightusually expect to see up to 50 or 100blue-morph birds. While this number isshowing signs of increase, it is not yethigher than expected. West of Kingston,where small numbers of Snow Geeseoccur during migration, a much higherpercentage are blue morphs, indicatingthat they are Lesser Snow Geese.

Knowing this feature of each sub-species, it raises questions about whatbirds were observed in late April andearly May 2008. On 25 April, while con-ducting the annual CWS aerial survey,Hughes noted a flock of about 200 geese,of which 80% were blue morphs (Figure6), near Cobbs Lake Creek, in associa-tion with a flock of 11,000 white geese.Three days later, while leading tours eastof Ottawa, Tony Beck observed hun-dreds of blue morphs among flocks ofabout 14,000 typical white morph birdsat Bourget. Tony described the scene astypical of the "salt and pepper" patternthat he has observed with flocks of Lesser

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Snow Geese on the Prairies. This is quiteuncharacteristic of Snow Goose observa-tions in eastern Ontario and was a firstfor him in the region. A similar experi-ence occurred on 4 May when he count-ed 250 blue morphs in 5,000 birdsbetween Navan and Sarsfield.

In 2009, on 20 April, Hughes obser -ved a flock of about 10,000 Snow Geeseon the South Nation River at CountyRoad 9. Within that large flock was acluster of about 2,000 geese of whichroughly half were blue morphs. Then,on 26 April, Hans van der Zweep count -ed 600+ blue morphs among 8,000-10,000 birds near Chesterville. Obser-vations of these birds in both years iscertainly noteworthy and indicates achange in the typical pattern, but as yetit is not clear how many may be LesserSnow Geese, which are normally

uncom mon in the east. Reasons forapparently increasing numbers of LesserSnow Geese in eastern Ontario are notknown but could indicate a shift in mig -ration pattern, or perhaps more likely,growth of a formerly smaller colony ofthis subspecies that has been migratingthrough eastern Ontario for many yearsbut has gone unnoticed because of thesmall numbers. This is something thatobser vers should take note of in thecoming years.

A careful examination of possibly2/3 of the 2010 migrants revealed only asmall number of blue morphs. Sinceobservations of large numbers of bluemorphs in the two previous years wereonly made later in the migration period,it could suggest that if these are LesserSnow Geese, they may arrive severalweeks after the Greater Snow Geese.

Figure 6. A few of the hundreds of blue morph Lesser Snow Geese at Cobbs Lake Creek, 2008. Photo: Susan Goods

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Banded birds Every so often, observers are luckyenough to identify a leg band or neckcollar which can then be matched torecords of marked birds through theCWS. Roger Clark received acknowl-edgements for six birds that he reported,four from 2007 and two from 2008. Ofthe 2007 birds, two were banded in thenorth on Bylot Island and two werebanded east of Quebec City at Mont-magny. Both of the 2008 birds werefrom Bylot Island, site of the largestGreater Snow Goose colony in the Can -adian Arctic where Laval University andCWS have been conducting researchsince the late 1980s.

Fall birds The story of the Greater Snow Goose isdynamic. The population continues toexpand thanks largely to adaptation toinclude agricultural food sources duringmigration. It is also showing signs ofevolving into a dual season species ofinterest in eastern Ontario. Whereas indecades past it was not a significantspecies for birders to chase in the fall, inrecent years the number appearing hasrivaled some spring flocks, with excep-tional sightings of 20,000-30,000 birds,from mid-November to mid-December2008, around St. Isidore-Casselman. Inthe fall of 2009, up to 15,000 were pres-ent east of Casselman, from Novemberuntil early December, with scatteredflocks in the south. The big difference inthe fall is that the birds tend to be muchmore restricted in their pattern of dis-persion seeming to favour the centralportion of the region. They typically

remain until significant snow covers theground and tend to depart en masse.

The story of the Greater Snow Goosewill continue to excite birders as migra-tion brings one of nature’s most magnifi-cent avian spectacles to our province.Unless significant declines occur in thesize of the population, this phenomenonis likely to be a feature of migration ineastern Ontario for years to come.

Acknowledgements Thanks are extended to all who contributedsightings information during the course ofthis study. Special thanks to Jacques Bouvier,Martin Bowman, Rose-Marie Chrétien,Lance Lavictoire, Ian Mitchell and Hans van der Zweep for their regular reports.

Literature Cited Canadian Wildlife Service WaterfowlCommittee. 2009. Population status ofmigratory game birds in Canada, 2009. CWS Migratory Birds Regulatory ReportNo. 28. 95 pages.

Di Labio, Bruce. 1987. Where to seemigrating waterfowl east of Ottawa. Trail and Landscape 21(2):88-92.

Morin, Brian. 2004. Greater Snow Geese in eastern Ontario. OFO News 22(1):2.

Pittaway, Ron. 1992. Subspecies andmorphs of the Snow Goose. Ontario Birds2:72-76.

Brian Morin, 661 Champlain Drive, Cornwall, ON. K6H 6H9

Jack Hughes, CWS, Environmental Stewartship Branch, Environment Canada, 335 River Road, Ottawa. K1A 0H3