It was a waterfowl bonanza in Indiana
- Michelle Wood: SWCD
- March 9, 2018
- 1487
Snow Geese in the air in Western Indiana were abundant.
It’s that time of year: Reports of ducks, geese, swans and cranes have been coming in every day. Ottawa NWR reported 782 tundra swans on March 4. From small farm ponds to larger lakes, birds are stopping briefly on their way north, heading for that window of time when there will be abundant food supply for millions of young birds.
I recently watched a BBC video about the short, amazing summers in Northern Scandinavia, similar to summers in Alaska and Canada, where these birds are heading.
After not feeling well for a week, I finally decided to get out of the house and check out the large numbers of geese and cranes being reported in Western Indiana. It’s about 100 miles from Goshen to the flooded fields near the Kankakee River, close to the town of Demotte.
I knew the approximate location, but having never been there before, I decided to drive the back roads until I found the birds. That strategy worked when my way was blocked by water over the road ahead. There were thousands of birds in the air and in the flooded fields.
While I couldn’t get as close as I would have liked, the views through binoculars and spotting scope were unlike anything I’ve seen before in Indiana. Thousands of snow geese including some Ross’s geese were joined by many flocks of sandhill cranes and greater white-fronted geese.
Later, driving more area roads, small flocks of cranes seemed to be everywhere. Likewise, more than 1,000 ring-billed gulls also were taking advantage of the flooded fields.
While there were no huge flocks of ducks, there were lots of northern pintail, canvasback, scaup, gadwall and mallards. Other birders saw green-winged teal, shoveler and wigeon.
While scanning for ducks, I noticed a snowy owl huddled on the ground in a fencerow of vegetation surrounded by water. As is often the case this year, at a distance the owl looked a lot like the white plastic that tends to dot the fields. When the owl turned its head to look at me, the “plastic” turned to beautiful snowy owl. I have never seen so many snowy owls in one winter.
A local Goshen-area birder saw three one morning, two of them in the same field. Another photographer complained that most of the owls she sees are far out in the fields, but last week one flew in and landed on a pole right beside her car.
While I was enjoying watching the spectacle of geese, something put them up, and suddenly the sky was filled with birds. The greater white-fronted geese rose in a cloud with a few snow geese mixed in. Hundreds of sandhill cranes and snow geese flew overhead before settling back in the fields. It’s hard to describe the awe that I felt when the sky overhead was filled with birds.
On the long drive home, I passed several other areas where flooded fields were filled with gulls and cranes. There must have been another 4,000 sandhill cranes for a total of 10,000 or more for the day. So far I have not gotten tired of hearing and seeing geese and cranes.
Bring them on. Good birding!
Bruce Glick can be reached at birderbruce@yahoo.com or 330-317-7798.