Posted: 10/13/04

Snow Geese

The first sounds are faint and unfamiliar. It is as though two or three very hoarse songbirds are stirring in the trees just back from the shoreline, but these are birds I have never heard before. Then, miraculously, the sounds break from the tree line and out into the open sky, but the birds are still not visible! I realize I am looking way too low, too close at hand. The sound is coming from a vast height. The voice is not that of the familiar Canada goose. It is a little less squawky, a little more conversational, a little less like an air horn. The flight is very high.

Snow geese do not typically stop here. They are going from the tundra to the prairies of the Dakotas, and eventually to the deep South. Sometimes they fly five miles above the earthÌs surface, taking advantage of favorable winds. They probably do not realize it, but they are flying into trouble.

Benefiting from modern agriculture, particularly in the United States, snow geese populations have exploded. During migration they feed on a variety of abundant grains, and in the wintering grounds on abundant rice. In summer, they overwhelm the fragile arctic tundra environments they need for nesting.

Snow geese live long lives (as long as twenty years), and are sexually mature after two years. The harvest of these birds by hunters, has held steady or even declined during the population explosion. Canadian and American governments are looking for ways to head off pending disaster for these birds. Ironically, it appears that only a vast and coordinated killing, to cut into this booming population, will make it possible for future generations of humans to witness beautiful flights such as I have seen tonight.

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