Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Snow Goose

Added another 9 images late tonight, all of migrating Snow Geese at Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Quebec. Had hoped to edit more than this today, but didn't have time. They were all taken on 18 May 2018, Day 12 of our holiday in Ontario and Quebec, This was our final day in Quebec, before flying back to Calgary early morning the next day, 19 May 2018. Sorry, everyone, I must be driving you all crazy! I am posting SO many images, but the end is in sight - yes, thank goodness. Less than a week and I should be done. I honestly don't know how some people go on lots of holidays like this and take thousands of photos and still seem to manage to take a lot shorter time to post them than I have (i.e. nine months). Actually I thought it was even longer than that. I have a deadline for getting all these finished, and it looks like I might meet my deadline after all. Thank you all for your patience! Day 12 will have photos of some of the 50,000 Snow Geese seen at an amazing Wildlife Area closer to Quebec City. Normally, I rarely see Snow Geese and only far, far away. We also got the chance to photograph a handful of barns, which was much enjoyed. We stopped at a few places on the long drive between Tadoussac and Quebec City, including Baie-des-Rochers, and Port-au-Persil briefly so that we could take a photos or two of the beautiful old church, Chapelle McLaren, with the St. Lawrence River in the distance. I managed to grab several rapid, drive-by shots of a few barns, which was great. How i would love a holiday just for old barns : ) A really special place we visited closer to Quebec City was the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area. Here, we saw an estimated 50,000 Snow Geese, on land, on water, and flying, turning the sky white. This was the first time I have ever been so close to Snow Geese. Some of them waddled within just a few feet of us while we were having a picnic lunch. We went on a walk there and saw some interesting bird species, incluing one tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Sorry, everyone, I must be driving you all crazy! I am posting SO many images, but the end is in sight - yes, thank goodness. Less than a week and I should be done. I honestly don't know how some people go on lots of holidays like this and take thousands of photos and still seem to manage to take a lot shorter time to post them than I have (i.e. nine months). Actually I thought it was even longer than that. I have a deadline for getting all these finished, and it looks like I might meet my deadline after all. Thank you all for your patience! Tonight, I posted 12 more photos taken on 18 May 2018, Day 12 of our holiday in Ontario and Quebec, This was our final day in Quebec, before flying back to Calgary early morning the next day, 19 May 2018. Day 12 will have photos of some of the 50,000 Snow Geese seen at an amazing Wildlife Area closer to Quebec City. We also got the chance to photograph a handful of barns, which was much enjoyed. We stopped at a few places on the long drive between Tadoussac and Quebec City, including Baie-des-Rochers, and Port-au-Persil briefly so that we could take a photos or two of the beautiful old church, Chapelle McLaren, with the St. Lawrence River in the distance. I managed to grab several rapid, drive-by shots of a few barns, which was great. How i would love a holiday just for old barns : ) A really special place we visited closer to Quebec City was the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area. Here, we saw an estimated 50,000 Snow Geese, on land, on water, and flying, turning the sky white. This was the first time I have ever been so close to Snow Geese. Some of them waddled within just a few feet of us while we were having a picnic lunch. We went on a walk there and saw some interesting bird species, incluing one tiny Hummingbird.

The 10 images posted tonight were all taken on the morning of 14 May 2018, Day 8 of our two-week holiday in Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). Thankfully, I have reached a few much larger birds, which were a pleasure to see and photograph after struggling to get any shots of the small birds that we had just been seeing. However, those small birds were a real treat, especially the beautiful Lapland Longspurs. Though we do get them in Alberta, I have never seen one here. Most likely, I will never see one again, hence the distant shots that I have uploaded. I still have to track more or less where we saw these particular Snow Geese. The photo of a mass of distant Snow Geese was taken about 50 minutes after the shot of the Great Blue Heron, so the last few photos I have just uploaded were taken in the early afternoon. We get Snow Geese in Alberta, but on the few occasions that I have seen them, they have been far, far away. "Watching huge flocks of Snow Geese swirl down from the sky, amid a cacophony of honking, is a little like standing inside a snow globe. These loud, white-and-black geese can cover the ground in a snowy blanket as they eat their way across fallow cornfields or wetlands. Among them, you might see a dark form with a white head—a color variant called the “Blue Goose.” Snow Geese have skyrocketed in numbers and are now among the most abundant waterfowl on the continent. The Snow Goose is a white-bodied goose with black wingtips that are barely visible on the ground but noticeable in flight. The pink bill has a dark line along it, often called a "grinning patch" or "black lips." You may also see dark morph Snow Geese, or "Blue Geese," with a white face, dark brown body, and white under the tail. Snow Geese don’t like to travel without the company of another couple dozen geese and can form flocks of several hundred thousand. Family groups forage together on wintering grounds, digging up roots and tubers from muddy fields and marshes. In flight, they are steady on the wing with even wingbeats." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose/id

The 10 images posted tonight were all taken on the morning of 14 May 2018, Day 8 of our two-week holiday in Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). Thankfully, I have reached a few much larger birds, which were a pleasure to see and photograph after struggling to get any shots of the small birds that we had just been seeing. However, those small birds were a real treat, especially the beautiful Lapland Longspurs. Though we do get them in Alberta, I have never seen one here. Most likely, I will never see one again, hence the distant shots that I have uploaded. I still have to track more or less where we saw these particular Snow Geese. The photo of a mass of distant Snow Geese was taken about 50 minutes after the shot of the Great Blue Heron, so the last few photos I have just uploaded were taken in the early afternoon. We get Snow Geese in Alberta, but on the few occasions that I have seen them, they have been far, far away. "Watching huge flocks of Snow Geese swirl down from the sky, amid a cacophony of honking, is a little like standing inside a snow globe. These loud, white-and-black geese can cover the ground in a snowy blanket as they eat their way across fallow cornfields or wetlands. Among them, you might see a dark form with a white head—a color variant called the “Blue Goose.” Snow Geese have skyrocketed in numbers and are now among the most abundant waterfowl on the continent. The Snow Goose is a white-bodied goose with black wingtips that are barely visible on the ground but noticeable in flight. The pink bill has a dark line along it, often called a "grinning patch" or "black lips." You may also see dark morph Snow Geese, or "Blue Geese," with a white face, dark brown body, and white under the tail. Snow Geese don’t like to travel without the company of another couple dozen geese and can form flocks of several hundred thousand. Family groups forage together on wintering grounds, digging up roots and tubers from muddy fields and marshes. In flight, they are steady on the wing with even wingbeats." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose/id

The 10 images posted tonight were all taken on the morning of 14 May 2018, Day 8 of our two-week holiday in Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). Thankfully, I have reached a few much larger birds, which were a pleasure to see and photograph after struggling to get any shots of the small birds that we had just been seeing. However, those small birds were a real treat, especially the beautiful Lapland Longspurs. Though we do get them in Alberta, I have never seen one here. Most likely, I will never see one again, hence the distant shots that I have uploaded. I still have to track more or less where we saw these particular Snow Geese. The photo of a mass of distant Snow Geese was taken about 50 minutes after the shot of the Great Blue Heron, so the last few photos I have just uploaded were taken in the early afternoon. We get Snow Geese in Alberta, but on the few occasions that I have seen them, they have been far, far away. "Watching huge flocks of Snow Geese swirl down from the sky, amid a cacophony of honking, is a little like standing inside a snow globe. These loud, white-and-black geese can cover the ground in a snowy blanket as they eat their way across fallow cornfields or wetlands. Among them, you might see a dark form with a white head—a color variant called the “Blue Goose.” Snow Geese have skyrocketed in numbers and are now among the most abundant waterfowl on the continent. The Snow Goose is a white-bodied goose with black wingtips that are barely visible on the ground but noticeable in flight. The pink bill has a dark line along it, often called a "grinning patch" or "black lips." You may also see dark morph Snow Geese, or "Blue Geese," with a white face, dark brown body, and white under the tail. Snow Geese don’t like to travel without the company of another couple dozen geese and can form flocks of several hundred thousand. Family groups forage together on wintering grounds, digging up roots and tubers from muddy fields and marshes. In flight, they are steady on the wing with even wingbeats." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose/id

The 10 images posted tonight were all taken on the morning of 14 May 2018, Day 8 of our two-week holiday in Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). Thankfully, I have reached a few much larger birds, which were a pleasure to see and photograph after struggling to get any shots of the small birds that we had just been seeing. However, those small birds were a real treat, especially the beautiful Lapland Longspurs. Though we do get them in Alberta, I have never seen one here. Most likely, I will never see one again, hence the distant shots that I have uploaded. I still have to track more or less where we saw these particular Snow Geese. The photo of a mass of distant Snow Geese was taken about 50 minutes after the shot of the Great Blue Heron, so the last few photos I have just uploaded were taken in the early afternoon. We get Snow Geese in Alberta, but on the few occasions that I have seen them, they have been far, far away. "Watching huge flocks of Snow Geese swirl down from the sky, amid a cacophony of honking, is a little like standing inside a snow globe. These loud, white-and-black geese can cover the ground in a snowy blanket as they eat their way across fallow cornfields or wetlands. Among them, you might see a dark form with a white head—a color variant called the “Blue Goose.” Snow Geese have skyrocketed in numbers and are now among the most abundant waterfowl on the continent. The Snow Goose is a white-bodied goose with black wingtips that are barely visible on the ground but noticeable in flight. The pink bill has a dark line along it, often called a "grinning patch" or "black lips." You may also see dark morph Snow Geese, or "Blue Geese," with a white face, dark brown body, and white under the tail. Snow Geese don’t like to travel without the company of another couple dozen geese and can form flocks of several hundred thousand. Family groups forage together on wintering grounds, digging up roots and tubers from muddy fields and marshes. In flight, they are steady on the wing with even wingbeats." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose/id

I've never seen Snow Geese when they accumulate in the many thousands that can be seen during migration, but I was happy to see these few very distant ones flying over Frank Lake on 27 April 2014. I've avoided posting this photo because of the graininess, but decided I would post it after all, so that it can be added to my Birds of Alberta 9 album. Anyone who knows the Frank Lake area and how far away the mountains really are, will know how much zoom I used for this : ) Last year, on 9 November 2013, I went on a birding day trip to Pine Coulee Reservoir and Clear Lake area. There, we did see Snow Geese and Ross's Geese (again, extremely distant). Terry Korolyk's report for that great November day trip included the following (to remind myself): "There was still much open water off the Campground at Clear Lake with Canada Geese, Cackling Geese, and, Mallard there in large numbers, and, a generous sprinkling of all the other Duck species. On the ice edge north of the Campground, probably 2,000+ SNOW and ROSS'S GEESE rested. One blue SNOW GEESE was there and, there was a very generous assortment of ROSS'S GEESE in these birds; probably 200+ at least." "The snow goose has two color plumage morphs, white (snow) or gray/blue (blue), thus the common description as "snows" and "blues." White-morph birds are white except for black wing tips, but blue-morph geese have bluish-grey plumage replacing the white except on the head, neck and tail tip. The immature blue phase is drab or slate-gray with little to no white on the head, neck, or belly. Both snow and blue phases have rose-red feet and legs, and pink bills with black tomia ("cutting edges"), giving them a black "grin patch." The colors are not as bright on the feet, legs, and bill of immature birds. The head can be stained rusty-brown from minerals in the soil where they feed. They are very vocal and can often be heard from more than a mile away." From Wikipedia. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/snow_goose/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_goose

LOL, a terrible photo, but I don't have a Snow Goose in my Birds of Alberta Sets. There have been very recent reports of a Snow Goose being seen here in the city. No sign of it when a few of us went looking in the afternoon of New Year's Day. However, this morning, we were thrilled to bits to see it along the edge of the Bow River, tucked in among many Canada Geese. For a second or two, it got to its feet and I was able to get this lucky shot before it turned itself into just another "bump" at the edge of the water. Apparently, there were also two juvenile Snow Geese at its side, presumably the bird behind the adult, to the left, and the bird immediately to its right. All these birds were at the FAR side of the wide river (as usual), hence a very distant view : ) This morning was pretty cold, -14C, and it was snowing lightly and very low light. We could hardly believe the birds we saw within two and a half hours, though - just amazing! Snow Goose-1 (ad)ult, 2 (juv)enile Canada Goose-500 Mallard-50 Green-winged Teal-1 (f)emale Bufflehead-10 Common Goldeneye-60 Barrow's Goldeneye-2 Common Merganser-4 Ring-necked Pheasant-1 (m)ale Bald Eagle-2, possibly 3 or 4. Two, 1 ad./1 juv. seen flying together, then two sightings of singles. Northern Goshawk-1 Merlin-1 f, in hot pursuit of a small finch. Rock Pigeon-4 Great Horned Owl-1 Northern Flicker-1 Black-billed Magpie-12 Common Raven-6 Black-capped Chickadee-12 House Finch-20 Common Redpoll-40 Straight afterwards, I called in at Sikome to say Hi to the pair of Great Horned Owls that were in their usual tree. No sign of the Porcupine today, though.