Jim Stangel of Assiniboia sent in some photos of Snow geese gathering outside of town on Monday night – the pictures were taken on a wintry afternoon with his Canon PowerShot at the Assiniboia Fairgrounds.
“A sight to behold,” Stangel said. “Hundreds of thousands of geese by the Assiniboia Fairgrounds. The noise is deafening. Every bird is honking.”
After a brief discussion about the movie The Birds – Alfred Hitchcock’s natural-horror from 1963 – Stangel described the flocks as a natural, but eerie miracle occurring twice a year across southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta.
“With regards to the geese, just imagine that this sort of flocking/gathering is happening this fall in many places in the fly zone in the province. Nature is amazing. Those birds are still out there,” Stangel added.
The Alberta Nature Guide said the Snow goose, also known as Ross’s goose, flies in flocks following in what appears to be in disorganized lines to human eyes across the prairies during the spring and autumn.
Snow geese are particularly known for shouting in high-pitched honks with increased frequency in comparison to Canada geese.
Snow geese often have all white bodies with black wing tips – but these birds might have dark bodies and white heads too.
The darker coloured version, also referred as the blue goose, was thought to be a distinct species until 1983, according to the Alberta Nature Guide.
Snow geese are found in croplands, fields and marshes in sections of the Canadian Prairies, such as South Central Saskatchewan, from March-April and September-October.
The geese breed in the Arctic north of the treeline – some flocks venture as far as northeastern Siberia during the spring. Snow geese also breed in Greenland, Canada and Alaska.
Snow geese have even been known to fly over parts of the northern British Isles.
Snow geese are tireless voyagers who traverse the Bering Strait twice a year. These geese are known for holidaying during the winter in Mexico and the southern United States then resurfacing in Saskatchewan and other parts of Western Canada starting in March, as they begin to regroup and fly back to the far north in the spring for another breeding season ahead.
