Lehigh Valley Outdoors
  • Home
  • Hunting
  • Fishing
  • Boating
  • Archery
  • Sports Vehicles
  • Golf
  • Shooting Sports
  • Other
  • Home
  • Hunting
  • Fishing
  • Boating
  • Archery
  • Sports Vehicles
  • Golf
  • Shooting Sports
  • Other

Lehigh valley outdoors

By Nick Hromiak

Snow geese have arrived in Lehigh Valley

12/21/2019

0 Comments

 
PictureLike snow flakes falling from the sky, snow geese have arrived and their bag limits are generous. Photo by author

The snows are back. No, not a snowstorm, but a large flock of Snow Geese have made their way to Lehigh County from their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra.  

On Saturday, Dec. 14, a flock of about 500 snows descended like snow flakes on a cut cornfield belonging to GEO Chemicals (formerly Trojan Powder Company) on the west side of Mauch Chunk Road and across from the intersection of Mechanicsville Road. The snows’ nasal honking can easily be heard if lowering a window in your vehicle. This is my first sighting of them in the area, but they may have put down elsewhere in the valley. 

These particular snows landed amidst a small flock of Canada geese that were foraging for leftover corn spewed from harvesting machines. And further down the road a bit, were probably an equal number of Canada’s in a cut cornfield but on the east side of Mauch Chunk Road. 

As for snows, the season in the North Zone runs from Nov. 19-Jan. 11. For the South Zone, it runs Nov. 19-Jan. 18. In the Atlantic Zone, the split seasons run Oct. 1-Jan. 25, then reopens Jan. 27-Apr. 24. The seasons are long because they need to be culled, say biologists, as their burgeoning populations are decimating the grasslands of the tundra. In other words, the snows are eating themselves out of house and home. And local farmers who plant winter wheat detest snows because they can devour a wheat field in a few days with their foracious appetites.

Here are some interesting facts you may not know about Snow Geese:

* In wintering and migrating flocks that are feeding, lookouts keep an eye out for predators. Upon sighting a threat, they call out to the rest of the flock, which may take flight. 

* Snow Geese make epic journeys by air, but they are impressive on foot, too. Within the first three weeks of hatching, goslings may walk up to 50 miles with their parents from the nest to a more suitable brood-rearing area. Molting Snow Geese can outrun many predators.

* Females forage up to 18 hours a day once they arrive at breeding grounds, but eat little once they begin incubating the eggs.

* Food passes through the Snow Goose’s digestive tract in only an hour or two, generating 6 to 15 droppings per hour. The defecation rate is highest when a goose is grubbing for rhizomes, because such food is very high in fiber and the goose inevitably swallows mud. 

* The oldest Snow Goose on record, shot in Texas in 1999, was 27 and a half.

* Snow Goose hunting in the eastern United States was stopped in 1916 because of low population levels. Hunting was allowed again in 1975 after populations had recovered. Since then, their populations have continued to grow, to the point that some areas of tundra nesting habitat are starting to suffer.

Hunting these extremely wary birds is tough. Hunters usually have to employ at least 50 decoys or more, or white cloths on sticks stuck into the ground, to lure them into range. And the geese are unpredictable as they may be in a particular field one day and another the next. The daily limit on them is 25 daily, with no possession limit. 
​

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Nick Hromiak has been an outdoors and automotive  writer for over 30 years. He's been published in numerous national and state-wide outdoor magazines and newspapers. 

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    RSS Feed

      Subscribe!

    Subscribe to Newsletter
Proudly powered by Weebly