Spring may finally be making its appearance in South Dakota. Robins are back, Cardinals have been singing like mad, and today Snow Geese ("snows 'n blues" as they are known locally) have been pouring overhead by the tens of thousands. I got out my binocs and tried but could not see the end of the flocks in either direction, north or south. Last year at the height of the migration the SD Dept of Game, Fish, and Parks estimated one million geese between Sioux Falls (where I live) and Mitchell, SD, which is 70 miles west.
The numbers of raptors that accompany this migration are also staggering, sometime it seems like a hawk on every fence post! OK, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but there are lots nonetheless. Tomorrow I am going to try to get out and find some geese on the ground feeding in the stubble fields. To see the ground completely blanketed by geese and hear the thunder they make when they lift off is something that every birder (no make that every person, period) should experience at least once. Wow, I can hardly wait!
Good birds to Ya!
Paul
SD
The numbers of raptors that accompany this migration are also staggering, sometime it seems like a hawk on every fence post! OK, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but there are lots nonetheless. Tomorrow I am going to try to get out and find some geese on the ground feeding in the stubble fields. To see the ground completely blanketed by geese and hear the thunder they make when they lift off is something that every birder (no make that every person, period) should experience at least once. Wow, I can hardly wait!
Good birds to Ya!
Paul
SD
