On this cloudy but mild afternoon in central Missouri, my wife and I took a walk around Philips Lake in south Columbia. Following the recent Arctic weather, the lake remained completely frozen over and, despite the pleasant weather, birds were few and far between. A female norther harrier strafed the adjacent fields and a red-shouldered hawk hunted from his perch in a marsh-side tree; otherwise, songbirds were limited to northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds and song sparrows.
While watching a noisy flock of Canada geese pass over the lake, I caught sight of another wavering flock of geese, smaller and more slender than their Canadian cousins. On close inspection, they proved to be greater white-fronted geese, 35 in number; heading northwest, they were the first spring migrants that I have observed this year.
Summer residents of the Arctic, primarily across Alaska and northwestern Canada, these long-distance migrants are most abundant west of the Mississippi, wintering in the Central California Valley, southern Mississippi Valley, the western Gulf Coast, the Southern Plains and Mexico. There they feast on grasses, waste grain and wetland plants before beginning their return trip in February, among the earliest spring migrants on the planet.
While watching a noisy flock of Canada geese pass over the lake, I caught sight of another wavering flock of geese, smaller and more slender than their Canadian cousins. On close inspection, they proved to be greater white-fronted geese, 35 in number; heading northwest, they were the first spring migrants that I have observed this year.
Summer residents of the Arctic, primarily across Alaska and northwestern Canada, these long-distance migrants are most abundant west of the Mississippi, wintering in the Central California Valley, southern Mississippi Valley, the western Gulf Coast, the Southern Plains and Mexico. There they feast on grasses, waste grain and wetland plants before beginning their return trip in February, among the earliest spring migrants on the planet.
