Snow goose (Chen caerulescens) - local seasonal appearance

Comments on 6 observations in Seymour township, Northumberland county, southeast Ontario, June 1998- December 2021.

In Trent Hills, sightings are rare. Starting in the immediate past, and working backwards:

6, 5. Two sightings were made of an individual beside the Trent canal in Campbellford, on 14 and 16 November 2021. The snow goose was an adult white morph, slightly smaller than adjacent Canada geese. Why it was separate from its mates is unknown, but it apparently chose safety in numbers, hanging out with some 220 of the slightly-larger Canada geese on the earlier date, and 250 two days later. The flock had moved only 1.5 km downstream in 48 hours - evidently in no hurry to depart for points south. Sighting with photographic evidence: see Figs. 1-2.

4. On 05 March 2016, hear from Mike and Rob Mills of a likely pair of snow geese seen this week.

3, 2. On 21 May 2000, in the evening, in Campbellford, a pair of Canada geese were noted in company with a white goose and a pair of bluish-grey fluffy goslings ("white-Canada" hybrids?), forming a close group, paddling up and down the Trent canal near the west bank. The white goose had orange legs and bill, was all-white, and had an upthrust rump, making a distinctly different shape to its adult (Canada goose) associates - a snow goose, or the domestic goose (Anser domesticus)? The shape indicates the fat on the rear of a domestic goose, so this possible "snow goose" sighting is rejected. Hybrids of Canada goose and domestic geese (e.g., greylag goose) are well-documented. This same pair may have been seen earlier,by the canal, on 11 January, where they were considered a Canada goose-domestic goose pair.

1. On 28 March 1999, a pair of geese, one snow goose with one Canada goose, were noted swimming side- by- side on the Trent river at Lion's park in Campbellford. Given the observation the following year (2, above) it might be that this was a "wild", escaped domestic goose, the same as the individual seen a year later?

The year before, on Sunday 27 September 1998, at Presqu'ile park, one snow goose was seen within a flock of several dozen Canada goose, on a birding trip hosted by Steve LaForest.

Figures 1-2. Two images from the same photo taken beside the Trent canal on 14 November 2021. It is a white morph, a "Snow". The snow goose stayed within the tight flock of Canada geese, but appeared only marginally tolerated by its immediate neighbours: if it got much closer than in the right-hand image, it would be scolded by its slightly larger "cousin".