James Bay geese disperse inland as snow and ice gone

A Canada goose expert says the small number of geese seen by hunters on the James Bay coast this year is not due to a population decrease, but rather to the warm winter seen across the North.
Jack Hughes, a waterfowl biologist with Environment Canada, says that the warm winter on the coast has resulted in less snow and ice cover on the bird’s breeding grounds than what is normally seen. Because of that the geese have dispersed over a much wider geographical range than normal, making them harder for hunters to spot.
“If they arrive in southern James Bay and its been cold with lots of snow and ice, the birds tend to build up in certain areas and people seeing them will say, oh there are lots of geese around,” Hughes said. “But in other years when things have been mild and are thawed out before the geese get there, the geese tend to disperse all across the breeding grounds along the coast and inland of James Bay.”
“It doesn’t mean the geese aren’t there, it just means they weren’t forced to build up in any areas,” he added. “So you would never see them in large numbers in any one area in a year like this.”
Hughes said that the population of the James Bay geese has remained stable over the past 15 to 20 years.
The Canadian Wildlife Service, in partnership with Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, does a geese population survey once per year on the nesting grounds. Hughes said it usually happens in mid-May, once the birds have built nests and settled down in the North.
Hughes said the birds tend to return to the same spot to nest year after year.
He also said that as more geese overwinter in southern Ontario each year, rather than heading further south, there may be a second influx of geese on the James Bay coast later in the spring.
The number of birds that nest in southern Ontario are increasing, and they might show up in southern James Bay later, in June,” Hughes said. “But they shouldn’t have an impact on the
local nesting population of James Bay geese.”