blue phase Snow Goose

The most spectacular sight at Middle Creek is early in the morning when a large percentage of the geese take off from the lake and head to nearby fields to forage. The sky can be filled from horizon to horizon by the noisy birds as they fly overhead. This happens again in the evening as they flow back into the lake from the surrounding farm fields.

Snow Geese are a beautiful bird with their all-white bodies and black wingtips which makes them particularly stunning to see against a blue sky. They also come in a ‘blue phase’ and several intermediate phases as well. I personally think that the ‘blue phase’ is more striking than the white phase. This may be due to their relative rarity in a flock of Snow Geese.

Snow Geese can be quite long-lived (some over 26 years old), and combined with the fact that they are protected, their population has exploded in recent years. An older estimate from 1997 put their numbers at around 6.7 million birds, based on surveys done on the breeding ground. Numbers now are even higher. Unfortunately, this population explosion has lead to habitat degradation along the Atlantic Coast where they winter.

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• Snow Geese in Flight at Jamaica Bay (10000birds.com)

left: @ Middle Creek by Geoff Malosh- right: @ Conejohela Flats by Drew Weber

Above is a comparison of a photo Geoff Malosh took of the Middle Creek White Ibis with a photo of the ibis I took at Conejohela Flats.

Although these pictures show different sides of the bill, Geoff has another picture that shows both sides of the bill are similar in the Middle Creek bird. The dark/light pattern on the bills is quite different, confirming that these are different birds.

Any comments?