[Birdtalk] White Geese Spectacle Continues in Corinne

[Kristin Purdy]

The spectacle of thousands of Snow and ROSS'S Geese feeding in stubbled cornfields in Corinne, Box Elder County, continued this morning. I arrived at 7:54 a.m. to find many geese already there, but far away and out of scope range. During the next half hour or so, geese poured into the fields from the direction of Bear River MBR to the southwest. The birds came in by the tens and by the hundreds and by the thousands. Eventually, many birds were close to the road and as close as 100 feet. Sometimes the scope was ineffective because the birds were too close. 

The geese fed actively until about 10:30, when they began to get antsy and lift off in flocks toward Bear River again. The final and major blast off occured at 11:17 a.m. Most birds headed southwest toward Bear River; a fraction headed north. I was too chicken to estimate the number of geese in the fields on Saturday, so I used John Bellmon's number--15,000 birds. I'm more comfortable with that number today because I saw most of them fly in and fly out again.

Between the two mornings of observation, I saw fifteen neck collars in three color schemes:

Ross's Goose: Blue collars/white letters: Birds hail from the Central Canadian Arctic (4 each)
Snow Goose: Black collars/white letters: Birds hail from the Western Canadian Arctic (9 each)
Snow Goose: Yellow collars/white letters: Birds hail from the Central Canadian Arctic (2 each)

Saturday's birds have been reported to Patuxent Bird Banding Laboratory already; I'll report today's shortly. 

Paul Higgins was already there when I arrived this morning and noted the significant numbers of Ross's Geese. Sometimes it seemed like clots of 10 or 30 or 50 Ross's were circulating in the same area and associating together. I was surprised at how few blue morph birds were present.

It's possible to drive slowly down the road past the birds without disturbing them, or exit your vehicle on the side of the road opposite the geese and observe them from outside your car. That the birds returned to Bear River MBR is a good sign that they might return to Corinne's cornfields tomorrow morning, too. Their arrival seems to be from 7:30 to 8:30 and departure between 10:30 and 11:30. 

To reach this area, take I-15 to exit 365, Corinne. Turn west on SR-13 and drive into Corinne. In the center of town turn left (south) onto 4000W; the street sign might be missing so look for the double-stacked white grain funnels for the Bear River Valley Co-op on the south side of the road. Drive south for about 1/4 mile and turn right (west) at the stop sign onto 2400N. The fields harboring the geese are on both sides of the road approximately 2 miles from where you last turned. They use the fields that stretch for about a mile along the road.

Kris
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