This forum is for asking questions and providing answers on bird identification. New and visiting birders are encouraged to ask and participate.
#90190
Wow, I wasn't prepared for such a fast reply. Thanks! I'm just getting into birding with a couple of of friends in town. What a perfect, safe hobby to pursue during a pandemic!

Do you ever see the blue morphs around here? Are there more or less of them than white morphs in the world?

Do they typically travel with gaggles of Canada Geese? Can I use Canada Geese as a proper noun or does it always have to be the singular Canada Goose? This one seemed to stay slightly farther away from the other geese.

I'm reading and learning, it's just great to hear from experienced birders too. I'm liking this already.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose/id
#90192
Jofa wrote: Feb 01 8:40 am Wow, I wasn't prepared for such a fast reply. Thanks! I'm just getting into birding with a couple of of friends in town. What a perfect, safe hobby to pursue during a pandemic!

Do you ever see the blue morphs around here? Are there more or less of them than white morphs in the world?

Do they typically travel with gaggles of Canada Geese? Can I use Canada Geese as a proper noun or does it always have to be the singular Canada Goose? This one seemed to stay slightly farther away from the other geese.

I'm reading and learning, it's just great to hear from experienced birders too. I'm liking this already.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose/id
That is great that you are getting into birding! Yes, it a perfect pandemic friendly pastime where you have to be outdoors. Birding is better if you can get away from people.

Blue morphs -- yes, I believe they occur. It is like blue eyes vs brown eyes as a certain population of snow goose will be blue morph. I don't know the actually percentage but I believe blue morph is more rare.

Gaggles of geese -- yup, you can find them mixed with other species, pretty much all geese and ducks do this. However groups in an area do tend to stick together. This lone snow goose my have lost his group temporarily and is hanging out with Canada Geese for the time being. The spacing may be perceived, I don't think the snow goose is deliberately distancing from Canada geese.

Canada Goose/Geese -- It all works. I call them branta canadensis as it makes them sound a bit more special 🤓 or "soccer field fertilizer geese"️ ⚽️ or "giant fir tree sparrow" when seen perched in a really weird spot.😉

Cheers,
#90195
Hi Jofa...your picture isn’t showing up, at least not for me on an iPad, but if Kevin says it’s a snow goose then it’s a snow goose!
I agree with everything he says and can only add a couple of observations from my own experience - I’ve never seen a blue/dark morph in person even after almost 10 years of birding, so they are quite rare around here. Also, they do tend to hang out in large masses (by the thousands) so 1 lone bird being in Vancouver probably did get separated from his flock. There was one juvenile who spent the summer at Burnaby Lake and molted from his juvenile to adult plumage while there - that was couple of years ago.
If you want to see something really impressive go to either the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta/Ladner or the dykes in Richmond/Steveston in November - like I said thousands of them! It’s a little late now because I think they are starting to make their way back to their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic and beyond.
Welcome to birding where there are lots of dull moments but then you find the bird you’ve been looking for and it’s all worth it! :)
Last edited by jewill on Feb 01 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#90197
Bird sanctuary, eh? Sounds like a good excursion. Is it all outdoors there?

I'll be on the lookout for that blue morph when I go out this Sunday, for sure!

As for the picture, I'm not sure how else to make it work for you. I can't upload a picture to this thread, and the instructions are very specific as to how to link photos here.
#90198
Reifel is closed now due to Covid19. Check here for updates: https://www.reifelbirdsanctuary.com/ When they open it is all outdoors and is a major birding hotspot in the Lower Mainland.

Because you are a new birder you are almost guaranteed to see a blue morph before me :mrgreen:.

Group birding would not be a good idea now - keep the numbers low, 2 or 3 in your core circle, until the pandemic is under control.
#90199
I did not know the blue morph snow geese were that rare. I will have to keep my eyes open them. We only get a flew snow geese wintering here in Victoria each year to not a lot of options for blue morph spotting.

As far as I know, all the birding and natural history groups in BC have postponed their field outing activities until Dr. Bonnie says it is ok to resume. Once restrictions are relaxed, I highly recommend participating in a birding walk as the knowledge gained will jump start a lot of the basic skills, making birding even more fun and rewarding.

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