24-25 March 2007
The northward movement of Canada Geese has now started in earnest with barely a sky view without them. The fields around St-Clet have undergone a rapid thaw and flood pools are starting to look attractive to both birder and bird.
Saturday 24th I did a quick tour of the St-Clet lanes but first making an ‘official’ visit to St-Lazare Sand Pit. An official visit is one where I see enough to warrant a notebook entry. The pits qualified by virtue of a singing Northern Grey Shrike which, along with American Robins, Common Grackles and the newly in-post Red-winged Blackbirds took the year list there to 13!
The St-Clet fields proper held about 1000 Canada Geese and one Cackling Goose a stupid name really and it got me thinking that perhaps we should name the races (or species) after the Canadian provinces.
Greater Canada Goose would, of course, be Quebecois Goose.
The ones that make the most noise and produce the most crap could be Ontarian Goose.
The Albertan Goose would refuse to mix with any other geese.
The Newfoundland Goose would be permanently out of step with the rest of the geese.
The BC Goose would always be on the left of the flock.
You would never see a Saskatchewan Goose, they would always be in the middle of nowhere.
Labradorean Geese have a barking call but nothing like as rich and unintelligible as the call of the Nova Scotia Goose.
The New Brunswick Goose honks and honcs, nobody knows where the North-west Territories Goose is, or cares.
The Nunavut Goose is best ignored and it might go away.
That just leaves our oddly named Cackling Goose which would become PEI Goose, small, attractive and a pleasure to behold.
I know I missed out Manitoba, I may have to visit Winnipeg some day, enough already, back to the birding.
I did not really expect the Snowy Owls to still be about but, on reaching the end of Ste-Julie which, as everyone now knows is the epicenter of the magic triangle for Snowies, there was a male on a fence post just asking to be photographed. A quick scan revealed a female nearby but I ignored her and crept up on the male taking a few snaps as he diligently ignored me. Later in the day Sandra came out with me and we saw two more males in the same area and a stunning flock of at least 1,000 Snow Buntings.
In between time we had been to St-Timothee marsh and located the incubating Great Horned Owl, a sore thumb amidst a few Great Blue Herons, back early in the heronry. At nearby Hungry Bay duck numbers are climbing with lots of Greater Scaup, a few Lessers and Ring-necked Ducks and a single female Barrow’s Goldeneye amongst her Common cousins
Sunday was quieter, there was an overnight snowfall which stymied the migration a bit but there was still one Snowy Owl in the regular place, a Northern Harrier was new and a couple of Hooded Mergansers were nervously feeding on the Solanges Canal.
Below a few snaps and oh, the Canada Goose thing, its comedy, I don’t really mean it and I don't want anyone to feel insulted, especially you lovely Ontarians.
Top to bottom, male Snowy Owl post preen then alert (or as alert as they get in sunshine), female Horned Lark then, finally, two Hooded Mergansers swimming away, an invaluable aid to identification as they always seem to do that.
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