[NatureNS] Barnacle, (Greenland) White-fronted, Cackling Geese, near Truro

Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:36:25 -0300
From: iamclar@dal.ca
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All:

Liz Doull contacted me today to say that late yesterday, she and Fulton watched
large flocks of Canada Geese settling in a field near Truro, and that among
them there were a Barnacle Goose and a dark, evidently Greenland race
White-fronted Goose. Since she had not be able to see the Barnacle Goose in the
mass confusion of geese in bad light, she and Fulton went back to check out the
reliability of the site late today, and I went along later.

In brief, we observed with the large Canadas (mostly Atlantic?) a number of
smallish darkish Canadas, probably _interior_ from further north (Greenland?),
two, possibly three, Cackling Geese, and the Barnacle Goose. The latter seems
to be a juvenile, and may be the first twitchable individual for some time. The
apparent Greenland White-fronted Goose did not materialize, but may have been
missed.

To begin, note that although some birds were in the field when I arived at about
15:30, the mass arrival - probably 2000+ in flocks of tens and scores - did not
begin until near highish tide in the North/Salmon River estuary, at about
17:30. Visibility was very poor in the low sun, and I don't think it will be
profitable to go out tomorrow at the high tide in near darkness.  Possibly the
same gathering will occur on the upcoming early morning high tides. Weekend may
be good if the geese do come in to feed by day.

To reach the site from Halifax, leave Hi'way 102 at Exit 14, and turn west on
236 toward S. Maitland, and away from Truro.  Drive slightly more than 6 km to
a dirt road, Loch Heaven Lane on left with a sign for Erwin Lake Chalets. If
you overshoot slightly, there is shortly a broad farm driveway to turn around. 
If you reach a farm with twin silos, you've gone too far. Go up the Loch Heaven
Lane about 0.5 km to a rise in the road, and park there to afford good
visibility for other cars driving on the narrow dirt road.  From there you can
see a harvested corn field on the right rising uphill. The geese were landing
and feeding there at ca. 2-300 m distance. There are hollows and ditches where
they may be partly obscured - especially small ones. We first picked out the
Cackling and Barnacle Geese as they came in with large flocks.

The whole area is saturated with geese, and more searching may produce more
finds. There is also a large roost site (I saw 150 Canada Geese at about 17:00)
west of the Tidal Bore Rd. that runs from the Lr Onslow road about .5 km.
beyond Exit 14A on the opposite side of the river, and there were about 800 
Canadas (nothing else) on the river before high tide seen from a rise in the
road about 1.2 km. beyond Exit 14A. However, the birds feeding on the field
near Lock Heaven Lane seem to be recruit from all directions up and down the
river.

Cheers, Ian McLaren


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