Chronicles of an Ontario Birder: Goose Migration in Ottawa

Goose Migration in Ottawa

Last week I left Hamilton on Tuesday night with Ezra for Ottawa, where we planned to spend a few days searching for rare geese. The targets were Barnacle, Pink-footed and Tundra-Bean Goose, the former two being more expected than the latter. In the past they were much more uncommon in the northeast, records of Barnacle and Pink-footed Geese have increased dramatically across northeastern North America in the last decade. Now, Barnacle is an annual visitor to Ontario, with Pink-footed being slightly more uncommon (though there has been one for the past few years). When we left for Ottawa, all of these species were being seen in New York, where they were associating with a few hundred thousand Snow Geese. The peak of goose migration in Ottawa tends to be the last week of March - the first two weeks of April, though it does vary a bit year to year. This spring things seem to be rather late, and large numbers were just starting to arrive when we were heading over. It was a long shot of a trip for sure, but there isn't a whole lot else to do this time of year so it seemed like the best bet for finding a rare bird.

Over the next four days we settled into a pattern of birding around the area. Basically we would drive around the best goose areas, stopping whenever we saw a large flock, then getting out the spotting scopes and carefully scanning them. After we were satisfied there were not any odd balls in with the Canada/Snow Geese, we would move on to the next flock and repeat this. The goose numbers were astonishing, at least to a southwestern Ontario birder such as myself. The locals were saying these numbers were very small compared to peak migration during previous years... But to me they were darn impressive! Our third day there was the best for Snow Geese, but every day we saw over 20 thousand. Standing there and watching the "snow storm" as these massive flocks swirl through the air is truly breaktaking. After a few days we got more efficient at searching, as we starting getting a better picture of the birds favourite locations and daily schedule. This type of birding certainly isn't for everyone, sorting through tens of thousands of geese in a day, looking at each bird to look for rarities... But personally I love it!

So were there Barnacle Geese raining from the sky?! Well, no. I won't leave you in suspense, no rare geese were found during our trip. In fact I didn't see a single yearbird! It was still a really enjoyable trip in my books though. Highlights listed below (goose numbers based on eBird lists, definitely some double counted on different days).

- 105,101 Snow Geese

- 1 Ross's Goose

- 4 Greater White-fronted Geese

- 57 Cackling Geese

- 86,775 Canada Geese

- 22 Tundra Swans (rare in Ottawa)

- 5 Blue-winged Teal (early migrants)

- 570 Northern Pintails

- 1 Horned Grebe (really out of place... out in a floodplain with geese!!)

- 2 Sandhill Cranes

- 1 Golden Eagle (cruising over a Snow Goose flock)

- 2 Red-shouldered Hawks

- 1 Snowy Owl

- 1 Great Gray Owl

- 1 Merlin

- 2 Northern Shrikes

- 1 Lapland Longspur

Not a bad trip! On the way back we stopped at Burnt Lands Provincial Park to look for early Loggerhead Shrikes. I got excited when I spotted a shrike in a shrub beside the trail…. But it turned out to be a freaking northern. Grrr…

Right now I’m back at home, getting ready to leave for Southern Ontario yet again tomorrow morning. The goal is finding a Neotropic Cormorant, and also finally seeing those damn Black Vultures in Niagara ;) The weather for tomorrow looks quite exciting… strong southwest wind and double digit temps. Bring on the migrants!

Some trip photos below…