Had to go to Winnipeg today. We made a stop at the Fort Whyte Alive Center on Mc Gillvary. We were surprised at the number of Canada Geese present, easily more than 1,000 on the larger frozen lake and in the enclosed Buffalo compound.
We saw several sparrows but didn't get close enough to identify them, we also heard some Robins and saw some Black capped Chickadees.
As we exited the interpretive center several large gaggles of geese flew over all honking and making a tremendous noise, there were several hundred without a doubt. They flew over and carried on for perhaps 1/4 of a mile then each gaggle turned, flew back and landed on the frozen lake. It was quite awe inspiring. We had purchased a video camera maybe an hour prior but the battery wasn't charged and we missed a great video opportunity.
There were several pairs of geese off by themselves on some of the smaller lakes, also still frozen, and a large flock of gulls in the middle of the geese on the larger lake.
We watched two geese honking loudly waddle almost 100 yards to chase a lone goose off a small knoll, they then remained on the little knoll and ignored the solitary goose which had moved maybe 25 yards further on. We found this rather odd but a little amusing.
We were within several feet of geese on a number of occasions, one growled at us and placed itself between us and its mate.
On another occasion we were surprised when a goose suddenly poked its head up from only a few feet away from behind the bank of one of the smaller lakes and started honking at us. It was an interesting day, we are really looking forward to trying out our video camera and hopefully getting some good bird videos. The Pileated woodpecker is high on our list.
We saw several sparrows but didn't get close enough to identify them, we also heard some Robins and saw some Black capped Chickadees.
As we exited the interpretive center several large gaggles of geese flew over all honking and making a tremendous noise, there were several hundred without a doubt. They flew over and carried on for perhaps 1/4 of a mile then each gaggle turned, flew back and landed on the frozen lake. It was quite awe inspiring. We had purchased a video camera maybe an hour prior but the battery wasn't charged and we missed a great video opportunity.
There were several pairs of geese off by themselves on some of the smaller lakes, also still frozen, and a large flock of gulls in the middle of the geese on the larger lake.
We watched two geese honking loudly waddle almost 100 yards to chase a lone goose off a small knoll, they then remained on the little knoll and ignored the solitary goose which had moved maybe 25 yards further on. We found this rather odd but a little amusing.
We were within several feet of geese on a number of occasions, one growled at us and placed itself between us and its mate.
On another occasion we were surprised when a goose suddenly poked its head up from only a few feet away from behind the bank of one of the smaller lakes and started honking at us. It was an interesting day, we are really looking forward to trying out our video camera and hopefully getting some good bird videos. The Pileated woodpecker is high on our list.
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