Why don't we see more Snow Geese in the Chicago area? (the answer is below)

[Joe Lill]

So after not seeing the Fulton County Crested Caracara yesterday but having seen Owen Woodhouse's video from the other side of the river, Jeff Sundberg, Kris Sundberg and I headed to Chautauqua (Mason County).

The number of Snow Geese I saw at Emiquon was already the greatest number I'd ever seen. Then we got to Eagle Bluff at the Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge. Owen estimated a half-million Snow Geese (along with Ross's & Greater White-fronted Geese). We wouldn't be surprised if there were a million.

So this question came up: how can this happen every year while we in northeastern Illinois run all over to get one of each of these species? I know how to get an answer to a question like this: ask my friend Doug Stotz. Sure enough, he sent me a link to eBird records for Snow Geese abundance. 

https://science.ebird.org/en/status-and-trends/species/snogoo/abundance-map

After you go to this page, click on "Static Map" at the top right and you'll get a great view. Sure enough, they make a left turn before leaving Illinois.

Absolutely fascinating; thanks, Doug!

Joe Lill

Chicago, Cook County

[Suzanne Coleman]

Hi Joe (and IBETers),

Thanks for this link.  I explored this info a bit and found that choosing the tab "weekly" at the top, and then clicking on the "play" arrow in the right-hand white column shows the overall movements of the species throughout the year.  Very interesting.

Suzanne Coleman
Cook co.

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[Woody G.]

Thanks for sharing this question and tool. I had a little rabbit hole, sparked by this and my friend on Lake Superior who doesn't see any of the number of Great White-fronted Goose we do. Using that tool, you can see that the larger portion of these geese and also dabbling ducks cut from the Mississippi River to the central plains on their way north. Even when they are near Lake Michigan, they may be sticking closer to shallow wetlands, rivers, and ag fields, while fish-eating diving ducks and waterbirds from the ocean are sticking to the deep water lakes, and are more likely to be seen up north at Lake Superior.

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[Joe Lill]

I received an email from Jeff Smith a few days ago regarding this subject. While searching for the Caracara last weekend he chatted with someone from The Nature Conservancy who mentioned that, pre-glacier, the Mississippi actually flowed through the Illinois River valley. The hypothesis is that the geese are still following that route. After doing a bit of "Google Research" I came across this site:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aav2366

Joe Lill

Chicago, Cook County

(which actually had a nice influx of White-fronted Geese in the past week)

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