Subject: [Tweeters] nocturnal geese
Date: Oct 21 09:27:06 2006
From: Eugene and Nancy Hunn - enhunn323 at comcast.net


Tweets,

Last night about 8 PM Michael Hobbs, Matt Bartels, and I heard a flock of non-Canada geese fly over the lower meadow at Naches Pass at ca. 4600 feet elevation heading southeasterly. I would describe the notes as rather high pitched yelping which we at the time presumed were Snow Geese. However, this morning I listened to recordings of Snow and Greater White-fronted Geese from the Colfer and Stokes CD and to be honest can't be sure which they were.

Any ideas which of those two species is more likely under the circumstances? I heard what sounded like the same calls over my house in Lake Forest Park ca. 1 AM one night last week.

Where are they coming from and where might they be going? The Skagit Snow Geese from Wrangell Island seem to rarely stray further south while the main Lesser Snow Goose population breeds from the Mackenzie River delta eastward and probably migrate to California etc. more to the east (though I did see four Snow Geese flying south over West Seattle last Sunday).

Greater White-fronts breed across northern Alaska and seem a bit more likely to migrate west of or over the Cascades. I seem to recall reports of Greater White-fronts migrating across the Oregon Cascades in fall.

???

Gene Hunn
18476 47th Pl. NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
enhunn323 at comcast.net