This morning as I drove through Vancouver I spotted a flock of 95 snow geese flying overhead. I thought this was great since numbers like that in Clark Co are unusual. As I entered the Vancouver Port area I saw a cloud of white over the Vancouver Bottoms. I raced to where the snows appeared to be noting large flocks heading over to Sauvies Is. I Found a large flock on the ground near McCuddies Marina and began to scan and found a Ross' and a single white-fronted goose. I called Randy Hill and Jim Danzenbaker and they came out. Prior to their arrival I saw two Ross' flying together as the birds shifted their locations. After Jim and Randy arrived snow geese continued to fly in and we picked out 3-5 blue geese. Several hours later the Ross' and white-front and blue's were not relocated. The terrane and number of geese made it difficult to keep on any one bird. The flock then lifted and flew to a field across trees and out of sight. We drove around to the opposite side of Shillipo WMA and refound the flock. We spent two more hours looking at the flock and relocated the blue geese and after four hours of searching we found the white-fronted goose. Unfortunately the Ross' were not relocated. I feel confident they are there it was just to difficult with so many white bodies. Total number of snows conservatively was about 10,000. Rain and hunger finally drove Randy and I out but Jim was left on his own at about 3:00 pm.

This is by far the largest flock I have experienced in Clark Co.

Other notable sightings included 110 canvasback on Shillipo Lake and 39 on NW Lower River Rd Pool.

Bob Flores
Ridgefield, WA

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