Jump to content
Whatbird Community

What are the chances these were Snow Geese?


Recommended Posts

Been trying to find Snow geese the last few days...

Closer to sunset 2 days ago I saw two large flocks in this shape:

63EFB87B-C5DA-4507-BA20-FB8007FD8C27.thumb.jpeg.b837dfcc373e33168d1c5fb911a1b306.jpeg

Horribly blurry photo, but you can see the general shape.

I recorded these as “duck sp.” but now I’m wondering if there was a chance these were Snow geese. 

When they came into view, they were flying much faster than the CAGO flocks and when I looked at them through binoculars I thought their wings flapped a lot faster than a CAGO. Couldn’t see anything but silhouettes but I thought their flight pattern was duckish. But I’ve never seen Snow geese so don’t know if I should expect them to fly like a CAGO or if they have more rapid wing beats. 
Around the same time, one flock of Common mergansers, some small flocks of mallards and 100s of CAGO were also flying over. 

This flock pattern looks similar to photos of the snow geese flocks people have been seeing which prompted me to ask, but doubt that’s a proper ID factor as most birds fly in this pattern.

I guess my main question is how does one exactly ID a snow goose flock from far away where you can’t see that they are white?

Seen in Calgary, Alberta. Flocks of snow geese have been reported practically daily for the last week or so.. I’m full of wishful thinking 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Aaron said:

I guess my main question is how does one exactly ID a snow goose flock from far away where you can’t see that they are white?

Your question is phrased as if you've reached a conclusion and are trying to force the evidence to support it.

Edited by Charlie Spencer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hahah yes I don’t expect to ever ID what those were, just wondering if snow geese fly more like a duck compared to the stiffer wing beats of a CAGO.
I don’t know if that makes any sense....
Looking more for in the future ‘tips’ of what exactly snow geese look like while flying 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So there should be no confusion with them and a flock of ducks flying over?  

I’ll definitely never report I saw one unless I can see that it’s a white bird with black wing tips, but people always report these tiny black flock specks as snow geese and I never understood how someone could look up at that and ID them.

@Melierax I suppose that is true! 

I guess it will be a “I’ll know it when I see them” kind of thing. 
Hoping this snow let’s up as it’s making it very difficult to spot white birds!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...