Hi Judy and Tweets

Your story reminds me of the time a number of years ago when I was doing
a Christmas Count down in the Sacramento Valley. Our area was out west
of Lodi and was predominantly open fields. We had a good day, and at the
end had special permission to go into a California Dept of Fish & Game
preserve area for Sandhill Cranes. We go there at dusk, and shortly
after we arrived the cranes started to arrive. They were all calling as
they came in, and the numbers kept building and building. By the time
the spectacle ended we estimated that we had at least 14,000 Sandhills
in that small area. I can still hear the wonderful sounds of that evening.

Brian Bell
Woodinville WA
bellasoc at isomedia.com

Caratfeathers at aol.com wrote:

> ....There is actually a question at the end of this wild goose tale,
> so read on or scroll down :-) :-) :-) ....
>
> It was one of those days when I felt the need for a break. When this
> happens, I go birding, as I suspect many of you do also! My usual
> winter tonic away from work is to go someplace where I will see
> hundreds or thousands of Sandhill Cranes and / or Snow Geese.
>
> Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, I would visit Bosque del
> Apache in New Mexico or the Sony Bono refuge (Salton Sea) in CA;
> visits to these places required a 4 or 7 hour drive, respectively,
> from my home in Arizona. When I lived in Indianapolis, IN I would
> visit Jasper Pulaski.
>
> But today I had only to drive less than 40 minutes to Skagit Flats
> (Stanwood, WA) to find thousands of Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens). I
> took the rural route from the south (Marine Drive) and, upon driving
> down the slight grade before crossing the Stillaguamish River, I
> scanned the fields, but didn't see any large patches of white.
> Feeling a little disappointed, I continued on north. And there they
> were! I should have looked straight ahead instead of west towards the
> sound! The majority were back in the field a ways to the west merging
> into a less dense population near the paved road where I was. So I
> pulled off onto a two-track farm road just a few yards so I wouldn't
> be a traffic hazard, which put me between two large flat fields and
> south of the geese. As I sat quietly in my vehicle the geese worked
> their way (they were munching grass at a pretty good clip) towards the
> corner of the field near me. Soon, geese from the inner area started
> flying in, in groups of 6-10, to join those nearer the paved road (and
> my vehicle). Before long the field by the main road on the north side
> of the two-track was filled with Snow Geese, causing quite a few
> travelers to slow down or even come to a stop.
>
> It wasn't long before geese were foraging within 8 feet of me. After
> a while some of those flying in from the west edge of the mass decided
> to land in the field on the south side of the two-track (farm road)
> and geese already on the ground started moving, as a group, slowly
> across the two-track to join those to the south. I was surrounded
> (well, almost....there were about 6-8 brave geese who wandered behind
> my car which was facing in towards the fields...so I was surrounded by
> hundreds of geese on three sides). And I, despite the dampness of the
> off and on light rain, had all my windows down so I could enjoy the
> goose chatter...I was about to say cacophony, but the sounds were more
> enjoyable to my ears than that word might imply!
>
> What I found really interesting, both visually and behaviorally, was
> that, as the geese moved from the north side of the farm road to the
> south side, many stopped and remained on the two-track. As I looked
> forward through my windshield, they formed a dense carpet the width of
> the road for about a quarter of a mile ahead! The field actually
> changed smoothly into the dirt track on the north side, but there was
> a low fence (just posts and a wire) and a ditch on the south edge of
> the track. Some of the geese flew over these obstacles and landed a
> few yards away, but many of the others just stopped and filled up the
> farm road! Is this typical goose behavior?
>
> Since another car had pulled up behind me, then left again after
> taking some photos, without disturbing the geese, I figured I could
> probably start my truck and back out without causing a massive
> lift-off. And so I withdrew from this wonderful experience,
> rejuvenated once again.
>
> My question...actually two questions....are:
>
> 1) Does any one else from around the world have a story about a
> favorite place for watching thousands of geese, cranes, etc.?
> and
> 2) What is the best method for estimating the number of birds present
> in a situation like this? I feel safe in saying there were many
> hundreds (probably thousands) of individuals in the Skagit flock, but
> I would like to be able to make a more confident and tighter estimate.
>
> Peace and Happiness!
>
> Judy Rowe Taylor
> Mukilteo, WA
> caratfeathers at aol.com

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