Goose watching in the North Country
I love fall birding in the North Country of northern New York State—this is the farm region just north of the Adirondack Park spanning from the eastern shores of Lake Ontario to Lake Champlain. And this past week, I managed to squeeze in some birding during a visit to Canton to see my mother. During the drive, and every day during my four-day visit, countless “V”s of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) plied the skies. (Q: Ever wonder why one side of those migratory “V”s is longer than the other? A: Because it has more birds. Imagine the groans from my College of the Atlantic ornithology class when I gave that answer to their query.) Seemingly every farm field was stippled with these large anatids. Nowhere were there more geese than at Rotary Lake in the Malone Memorial Recreation Park.
Late afternoon on Tuesday, 18 October, as the sun was getting low in the sky, saw me driving west on Route 11 through Malone. I always stop at the Park on my drive through, it always seems to be at sunset, and I always take for granted that there will be thousands of geese. It is awe-inspiring to see such masses of wildlife. I scanned the flock of Canada Geese, counting by tens and then hundreds in order to develop an estimate. 3,000! At the south end of the lake, furthest from me, were an additional 500 Snow Geese (Anser caerulescens). These are numbers I don’t see in Maine.
I was channeling my late mentor, Mike Peterson, remembering that you have to look at EVERY bird. When you have these kinds of numbers, there is a good chance of some other species of goose being mixed in. Twenty minutes into my scanning, trying to look at each and every Canada and Snow Goose, I was pleased to find a Ross’s Goose (Anser rossii). Like its cousin, the Snow Goose, this diminutive goose breeds in the High Arctic. Unlike its cousin, Ross’s Goose migration is more limited to central and western North America, so it is always noteworthy when they are found here in the east. In addition to being smaller than Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose has a proportionally smaller bill, seemingly an evolutionary afterthought. I have only seen two other Ross’s Geese in my life, so it was wonderful to have such clear and long looks at this bird.
Four days later, leaving Canton before sunrise for the homeward journey east, saw me once again driving through Malone, only this time it was sunrise. Once again, Rotary Lake was filled with Canada Geese. There were two differences this time: first was the time of day, second was that there was exactly one Snow Goose.
Walking around the lake, I scanned each and every goose (once again channeling my inner Mike Peterson), hoping for a Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii). Cackling Goose is to Canada Goose what Ross’s Goose is to Snow Goose. It is noticeably smaller with a significantly smaller bill and it tends to be more western in migration. When I was a young birder, Cackling Goose was taxonomically lumped with Canada Goose, being consider the “Richardson’s” race. In 2004, the American Ornithologists’ Union officially split it, designating it a separate species.
So, as I was scanning the thousands of Canada Geese, I was struck by their size variability, ranging from 30-43 inches (76-110 cm) long. In comparison, Cackling Geese are smaller, running around 25 inches (64 cm) long. Every small Canada Goose received particularly close scrutinization. It wasn’t long before I finally found one that fit the bill (sorry, no pun intended): small, smaller than the neighboring Canada Geese, small bill, higher pitched honking, and a faint neck band. Cackling Goose! My first confirmed since they received species designation!
It wasn’t long before flocks of geese took off by the dozens and hundreds, forming up and flying off. Within an hour, the thousands of geese on the lake at sunrise were now gone, presumably off to forage in nearby farm fields or to continue their southward migratory trek.
And with their departure en masse, I was struck with a realization that in the past, I have always seen these Rotary Lake geese in significant numbers and that I was always there during the last hours of daylight. Now, for the first time, I was there in the morning and they were flying off. Of course! Geese roost on water where they are safer from predators and they feed and migrate during the day. It was so cool to see ecology at work.