Snow geese numbers continue to soar
Flock’s potential record population ‘not so good’ for marshes, farms: biologist
The snow geese are back, and their numbers continue to soar nearly out of control.
Sean Boyd, a federal bird biologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said Thursday that last year’s population in the Lower Fraser peaked at about 108,000, the most since he has been involved in photo counts starting in 1987. There is every indication that this year’s numbers are as high or even higher, based on reports of good conditions on the birds’ breeding grounds at Wrangel Island in Russia. “It’s good news for the geese, but not so good for the marshes, Vancouver airport and the farms,” Boyd said. “It’s probably too many geese.”
A more official count won’t be known until December, based on photography of flocks from a small aircraft flying at an altitude of less than 400 metres, high enough not to disturb them.
The long-term management goal is to keep snow geese numbers at 50,000 to 70,000 through increased bag limits and hunting seasons, but it takes two to three years to change the regulations in Canada.
“We’re way above that,” Boyd said.
“I saw a flock at Westham Island on the way to a meeting the other day and there were 30,000 to 40,000.”
The snow goose population is shared with Skagit County in neighbouring Washington state, although a few thousand of the population have been spreading their wings, flying as far south as farmlands around Everett. The state has a more flexible hunting management system.
“We’re seeing them where we haven’t seen them before,” Boyd said. “They’re spreading out.”
Another change is that some snow geese wintering in Kansas and Nebraska have arrived at Wrangel Island to breed in recent years.
“That’s totally unusual,” he said. “We don’t know how that happened.”
Global warming is creating excellent survival conditions in the breeding grounds, he noted.
Kathleen Fry, manager of the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island, said flocks of snow geese are being observed daily on the foreshore as well as neighbouring farmlands in South Delta.
They especially like green grass and leftovers from potato harvests.
The sanctuary consists of nearly 300 hectares of managed wetlands, natural marshes and low dikes in the heart of the Fraser River estuary.