Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Fall flocks

A couple days ago, I was raking leaves in the yard when I heard the distinct honking sounds of a flock flying overhead.

It didn't sound like either Canada geese or swans. The flock was enormous, too large to take in on one camera shot. But what kind of birds were they?

By cropping the photo, I could see black wing tips.

Aha! Mystery solved. These are snow geese.

Photo source: Travel Through Pictures

Snow geese are famous for their spectacular feats of migration, typically about 3,000 miles twice a year. What a privilege to see them in action during this accomplishment.

7 comments:

  1. They'll be landing in our corn fields soon. Wilder, Idaho

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  2. Hi Patrice - I have a canning question. I recently came across a recipe for spaghetti sauce with meatballs; the meatballs contain whole milk and breadcrumbs. The author mentioned that she sometimes makes up the sauce/meatballs in bulk and cans it. I have read that USDA doesn't recommend canning anything with breadcrumbs or dairy, though I have seen on another website that they haven't had any problems canning meatballs with breadcrumbs in the mix. Do you have an opinion on this?

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  3. when i was growing up in Iowa, we seldom saw any geese migrating. now, thanks to the stedfast conservation efforts of groups like geese unlimited, the Iowa daily hunting limit of snow and blue geese is 20. and the posession limit is literally as many as your freezer will hold.

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  4. I wonder if snow geese fly over Alabama.

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  5. Or outside of Parma by the thousands.....Fort Boise Wildlife Preserve gets 50,000 to 60,000 at a time coming through. It would like a train when they take off. A sparking tornado when they land. It's quite a sight.

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  6. That first picture kind of looks like a bird in outline form!

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