Ross' and Snow Geese Forming Up and Heading Out along the Rio Grande Flyway

[Bo Zarts]

Ross' geese and Snow geese on the wing; the sitters will join up soon. The big Sandhill cranes stay behind, gorging.

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - San Antonio, New Mexico
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

[rampartd]

1. incredible

do the 2 species fly together?

i used to walk along the north shore of lake pontchartrain and one of the camps there had a little gaggle who usually made a ruckus as i walked by. geese are good watchducks i guess. my grandfather kept muscovies and swore that they were the best watchducks. good eggs as well. i haven't had a duck egg since i was 5.

anyway, one fall morning, just after dawn, i walked my usual route and saw the geese, lined up in v formation on the road, going nowhere. i was, and am , sad that their wings were clipped.

happy new year.

[Bo Zarts]

2. Happy New Year (I hope)!

Actually, I have a hard time distinguishing Ross geese and Snows unless they are side by side (the Ross geese are sometimes called "pint-sized" Snow geese). But I do see them closeby each other on the water, and they do nest together, so I assume that they at least liftoff together.

Hybridization has been estimated by ornithologists at 4.7% of a sample of around 12,000 Ross's and Snow Geese in a study conducted several decades ago. So I guess that geese that liftoff together .. oh well, you know .. flock together.

[Scruffy1]

3. I am planning on going to the Bosque del Apache this winter.

It's about a three hour drive for me. Spent the afternoon at the Rio Bosque wildlife refuge in El Paso.