Snow Geese are an uncommon sight around Kootenay Lake.
A year ago, when I saw one (Snow Goose), I suspected that the juvenile I saw had wandered far off its coastal migratory course to have ended up here. That is probably also true of yesterday’s juvenile Snow Goose, a bird that I would have missed had not Paul Prappas told me that there was one hanging out in a field near my home.
Snow Geese usually travel in huge flocks. This local juvenile was alone.
well that’s a considerable wander off of flight path!
is it possible that wetlands in the Slocan or upper Kootenay Lake could provide habitat?
Sure, we’ve habitat that’s suitable, but so little of it. Since Snow Geese migrate by the tens of thousands, they hug to the coast of BC and feed along the coastal plains. Inland, you have to look toward the center of the continent where huge populations migrate through flat Mississippi flyway. Geese migrating through mountainous central BC have strayed from the preferred routes.
About 6 years ago a small flock landed on the ball field in Riondel. A surprise and as far as I know the visit has not been repeated.