A mix of Snow Geese including a blue morph with a white belly, and a Ross’s Goose flying at the top of the flock was the tiniest of tiny segments of the tens of thousands of geese in the area (note that the Ross’s Goose has a smaller head and beak, and smaller size overall).
A small portion of a big flock of Snow Geese that repositioned among a “cloud” of geese feeding at the edge of a harvested cornfield.
A possible family group of Snow Geese, including blue and white morph adults and 2 young blue morph Snows in transit from a cornfield to a lake.
A female Gray Partridge provided the first photo opportunity of fall while feeding among a flock of 8 the day after the first light snowfall.
Maybe the biggest surprise of the season at my feeding station was the appearance of a murderer – a Northern Shrike that preyed on one of the songbirds foraging on the ground.
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Friday afternoon showed a complete change in avifauna, which kept me actively surveying surrounding areas for huge flocks of geese, scattered raptors, and occasional flocks of swans – very exciting when considering there was little sign of life the day before. I had to give up on trying to estimate the flock size of Snow Geese, instead referring to them as “clouds of geese!” There were 2 huge flocks of Snow Geese to the north, within 5 miles, and 2 more clouds of Snows within 5 miles to the south. There were 2 more clouds of geese farther to the southwest, and another 2 to the west! I’m sure I would have found at least 1 more cloud farther north, but I ran out of sunlight as I was zeroing in on raptors.
There were 3 Bald Eagles checking out the northern clouds of geese – 2 adults and an immature, with 2 more immature Bald Eagles feeding 2 miles south of my office. Beyond the 10 mile mark to the south, I started finding scattered Rough-legged Hawks, adding up to 7 by the end of my drive; and some of the hawks provided some incentive to try for more photos of trusting individuals. One male was especially colorful, and although I managed a few photographs of it, none made the grade, which I regretted. In the midst of the Rough-leg Hawk sightings, I found a late Red-tailed Hawk perched in the breaking sunshine, a particularly nicely colored bird with a rufous-brown belly band. There was also a Northern Shrike hunting from a high perch not far from where I found the male Rough-leg.
The other surprise was the resurgence of Tundra Swans into the area, not only by the numbers of small flocks, but also by the sizeable concentration at a large lake to the southwest where swans occupied a couple small openings in the ice, and stood on some ice-covered areas of the lake. That lake harbored about 235 swans, while other flocks I observed to the south and west of home numbered 6, 15, 10, 3, 35, 10, 10, and 28 – many in open water in the company of White-fronted Geese or Canadas, or Cackling Geese. The big concentration of swans was the largest I’ve seen this year, among the largest in the region ever. There were also new flocks of Common Goldeneyes on hand, the first of the late fall. Goldeneyes and Common Mergansers tend to show up as the last open water is available, and there were Buffleheads too, along with big flocks of Mallards.
The Abrupt Change
The advent of the large flocks of geese and swans followed a dramatic change in weather last week, with daily high temperatures dropping from the 50s and 60s to the 20s, which means many local wetlands became ice-covered, starting with shallow wetlands and abruptly building to ever-deeper lakes. Such dramatic changes in weather and landscape usually dictate the movements and behavior of birds in this area and to the north during late fall. Up to 40 mile per hour wind gusts blew snow horizontally from the west Tuesday and Wednesday, but it kept local waters from freezing until the wind calmed overnight. Thursday morning I was surprised to see large wetlands like Melody’s Marsh covered with ice without a bird to be seen – the geese and ducks formerly in the area appeared to have evacuated overnight, along with any other birds.
On my way to Fargo, I drove about 15 miles north before a flock of less than a thousand Snow Geese showed above a feeding field, and that was it for waterfowl along the way, short of a lone flock of about 20 Canada Geese flying in V-formation many miles beyond. There were a few choice raptor sightings along the way though: 1 Merlin, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, an adult Bald Eagle, and a Common Raven, which is rare on the open plains. In far-south Fargo, across the street from my niece and nephew’s house I found and photographed a flock of 8 Gray Partridges as they searched for seeds where the wind blew snow from the grass and as they ran through the snow to a large garden area to renew their foraging efforts.
Saturday was heavily overcast, but without hearing geese flying overhead by mid-afternoon I wanted to see if waterfowl were still abundant, or even present. A couple hundred feet south of home another late Red-tailed Hawk appeared, flying low. I watched it go into a circling, hunting mode before it flew above my yard. Geese were plentiful, although a bit less concentrated, with 3 huge flocks to the north, 2 to the south, and 2 to the southwest.
At one of the goose lakes there was an adult Bald Eagle, and at another there were 4 eagles present. But I was surprised that I couldn’t find a Rough-legged Hawk during the drive that echoed my Friday route, when I sighted 7. Ducks were more abundant with new flocks of Lesser Scaup obvious and even 7 Hooded Mergansers were near the biggest concentration of Common Goldeneyes, which numbered well over 60 at the deepest lake. Flocks of hundreds of Mallards could be seen, mostly in the field, some on the ice next to open water, and others in flight between.
Tundra Swans were absent from the area, except at the biggest concentration lake where about 80 were still on hand, only a quarter of the previous day’s total. It’s interesting to note that from this area near the border that ‘divides’ the Dakotas, Tundra Swans in the eastern population that migrate south from nesting habitat across the Arctic tundra take a left turn from here, continuing east to southeast Minnesota where they stopover and concentrate until final freeze-up there. That’s when they make an exceptional flight to the bays of the Atlantic Ocean, principally Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore and Washington, DC!
Neighborhood Action
I thought the cold and wind had chased the Blue Jays farther south as I didn’t see them during the storm, but Friday morning a single jay came to my feeding station. Usually, when 1 Blue Jay came, 2 or 3 or 4 would materialize, but through Saturday, only a single jay stopped in. Perhaps that means the 4-some did leave, replaced by a lone jay; or maybe 1 of the original 4 birds stayed while others move on. Either way, I’m glad to have at least 1 Blue Jay persisting in the winterish weather.
I bring up Saturday afternoon’s Red-tailed Hawk circling overhead again, considering it was part my neighborhood avifauna, as are the daily and nightly flocks of Snow Geese and White-fronted Geese that pass above as they fly between feeding areas and roosting sites, with a few probably on their way farther south. Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches appear to have vacated the area as of the previous Monday, and although I hoped the abrupt change in temperatures would bring more feeder birds from the north, not by Saturday’s sunset.
Sunday: “Holy Smokes” I said out loud as I checked on a commotion below my feeding station. With shrieks and a shrike drawing a circle of birds and me to witness the Northern Shrike dispatching a female House Sparrow, maybe a better exclamation might have been Holy Shrike! I grabbed my camera and photographed as best I could in the foggy light while the young Northern Shrike stood over its prey, then picked the sparrow up with its bill and flew low toward the cover of my lilacs, chokecherries, or spruce tree. WoW, what a surprise, and what a spectacle – a rare House Sparrow and a much rarer Northern Shrike engaged in the ultimate of nature’s struggles. Actually, the Northern Shrike adds a new species to my yard list, not an easy thing to do after years of providing attractive landscaping, water, and a variety of food for birds year-round.
But even before the shrike appeared, Sunday already upped the ante at my feeding station, when a pale-colored ‘Oregon’ junco materialized, followed by 2 male Hairy Woodpeckers that made multiple visits – 1 preferring suet while the regular male relished seeds on the platform feeder. White-breasted Nuthatches appeared to double in number too, with 2 appearing together for the first times in a couple weeks. And then there were the Blue Jays: 1 multiplied to at least 4 at times – had the original 4 returned after an absence of 5 days? They were brash and vocal, and acted like they owned the place, so I’d say they were familiar with the feeding station: “Welcome back.”
Goose Explosion
Geese dominated the avian action Monday, but I only drove 100 yards before sighting a hovering Rough-legged Hawk that attracted my attention for the first 15 minutes of my outing, and it eventually circled low within 200 feet of my yard – nice! The hawk led me south where I found 2 “clouds” of Snow Geese feeding that provided some initial photographs, and the southern-most location had a considerable number of Mallards and 2 adult Bald Eagles on hand. I found 7 more clouds of geese north of my office, and it was interesting to find that the largest concentration was at the deepest lake, Carlson Lake, where no geese were present until Monday – and they were present by the tens of thousands, perhaps reaching 100,000 when the geese finished feeding in surrounding fields.
Carlson Lake is always the last lake to freeze, so it becomes the final concentration site for Snow Geese that find the waste corn left by the combines to be the best in the land and especially hard to leave behind. In fact, some geese remain after all water is ice-covered – they love that local corn. There were 3 Bald Eagles perched in the area too, including 2 adults and 1 first-year immature eagle. While photographing an especially large and active cloud of Snow Geese feeding, I was glad to see an occasional small flock of White-fronted Geese mixing in, but it has been obvious that during the past week there has only been a very small percentage of Ross’s Geese among the Snows. There were occasional flocks of Mallards joining the fray too, but I didn’t notice other ducks in the area Monday.
Oh what fun I had, photographing in close proximity to thousands of geese that were constantly repositioning, flushing by the hundreds, circling and landing, with flocks flying back and forth to and from the lake, totally surrounded by goose music, if not consumed by it! You really hafta experience being in the midst of such a waterfowl spectacular! I never get enough of it, and with “high” temps Monday only reaching 16 degrees, each day this week could be the end of the goose extravaganza. It was an interesting week in my corner of bird world, and I hope you have some extra time over the Thanksgiving weekend to enjoy some birds afield and in your neighborhood too, but most of all, enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving!
Article and Photos by Paul Konrad
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