[Mnbird] Snow Geese in Minneapolis?

Richard Becker rhbecker at umn.edu
Thu Dec 10 02:34:03 CST 2020


I was down at Old Cedar Bridge about 4 pm Wednesday when I happened to 
look up and see
about 20 white birds with black on their wings fly over in an obvious V 
formation. They did not
have Pelican bills, they did not have the long necks of Swans (plus the 
black on the wings) and
they appeared larger than Gulls (plus being in the V formation). In 
roughly 20 years of birding
in and around Minneapolis, I've never seen Snow Geese (or Ross's Geese) 
except years ago when
there was a blue phase one on Lake of the Isles that I was told was 
injured and couldn't leave,
but these birds looked pretty much like Snow Geese. It seems pretty late 
for migration, and these
birds were moving south to north, so I assume they were planning to stay 
for at least a short
while in the area. Has anyone on the list seen or heard about Snow Geese 
in the area recently,
as I don't know what else they can be but I'm not 100% on the 
identification?

Also, there was a Northern Harrier hovering over something in the 
vicinity of the new bridge
around 3 pm. Finally, down by the Bass Ponds, there were a bunch of 
Hooded Mergansers on
one of the ponds, two of which I observed struggling with but finally 
downing frogs that at first
seemed too large for them. Frogs seem so much more manageable when it's 
an Egret doing the
eating.

Richard Becker




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