Aaron Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Been trying to find Snow geese the last few days... Closer to sunset 2 days ago I saw two large flocks in this shape: 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 More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 I can say with certainty that they are indeed birds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 (edited) . Edited October 24, 2020 by Charlie Spencer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 (edited) 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 October 24, 2020 by Charlie Spencer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Snow Geese look like white geese when flying. They're slightly smaller than Canada Geese, generally do tend to fly in flocks similar to your picture, and they sound different, but mostly they're white. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melierax Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 You should be able to see that they're white if you can tell how fast their wingbeats were. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 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 More sharing options...
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