>Gail Spitler writes:
>
>>Between May 20 and May 24 we had fairly large flocks of Canada Geese
flying
>>overhead. The size of the flocks range from approx. 60 to 110 birds. Does
>>anyone have any information about where these birds are going and what
race
>>they are?
>
Michael Price writes:

>Gail, can't speak to race or destination, but these are likely birds on
>their way to a molt-lake, a safe site to spend the molting period during
>which they are flightless. They could be unattached subadults and other
>non-breeders, or parents which have stashed the kids in a creche and then
>scarpered off. For some species, the sites of some of their molt-lakes is
>still unknown, so you may want to keep an eye out in your area for
>anomalously high numbers of flocking geese without young.
>


I wonder? The local breeders are still with their young who are still very
downy, although they are about 10 inches tall now. The family groups seem
very much intact still. The other piece of data is the presence of a couple
of Snow Geese on one occasion and a couple of Ross's in another that seem to
be hanging out with groups of these Canadas. The local lore is that these
flocks which always show up between Victoria Day (Canada) and Memorial Day
(US) are Arctic bound.
I guess if they are molt-lake bound, they aren't very local nesters. So this
seems like a long way to go.
You would think that this would have been completely studied by now, but no
mention of in Campbell, Birds of BC. The same phenomena doesn't seem to
show up in the Okanagan(BC), checking Cannings, Birds of the Okanagan
Valley; nor does it seem documented by the Creston Valley Wildlife Area
checklist. But it is definitely an annual occurence here.

Gail Spitler
Johnsons Landing, BC
spitler at wkpowerlink.com