Between 1,200 and 1,500 geese descend on Market Lake

On Thursday about noon, I found seven snow geese feeding in a flooded stubble field west of Market Lake Wildlife Management Area. I also saw thousands of migrating ducks. As I watched them, I heard a large flock of snows being pushed by the stiff wind from the south. They banked hard, and when they saw their friends filling up on soaked wheat, coasted in and joined their friends.

It wasn’t five minutes later when six more dropped in from hundreds of feet high followed by a large flock of mixed snows with ross’s geese, a smaller version of the snows, and a single tundra swan. After watching more flocks land for about half an hour, all the ducks and geese exploded in all directions. A bald eagle showed up to check out the flocks. Like most experienced waterfowl hunters know, flock shooting is usually unsuccessful and so it was with the eagle.

It started chasing a lone goose that got separated from the rest, but it lived to tell the tale about its close encounter. The flocks re-formed in the air and came back to the field after the eagle left.

Flocks continued to drop in, even during a heavy snow squall, until there were about a thousand white-tipped winged geese in the field. I had spent over three hours watching the geese when my phone rang. It was my wife checking to see if I was okay. I assured her that I was alright and would probably be late for dinner; but I wasn’t. About 10 minutes after her call, the large flock took off, made a circle and headed for Mud Lake. I and another “goose watcher” estimated there were about 1,200 to 1,500 geese in mixed flock.

That flock was the largest that we have seen north of Idaho Falls this spring as most of them have been between American Falls and Shelley in the past 10 days. Earlier on Thursday, I saw a flock of about 50 fly over as I was taking some pictures of some hooded mergansers just west of Rexburg. It seems the large flocks like to migrate when there is a strong wind to help them move.

The recent snow melt in the Upper Snake River Valley has created flooded agriculture fields where migrating waterfowl feed and rest on their journey north. Most of the ponds from Idaho Falls to Mud Lake, west of the freeway, have some waterfowl on them, while some of the newly exposed stubble fields are covered with them. Market Lake ponds remain ice covered and the road is still closed to traffic, but rumor has it that it will “open soon, very soon.” The road to the north side of Mud Lake also remains closed.

Many of the area canals and rivers are now free of ice with a lot of the non-dabbling ducks showing up there. I even heard that a cattle egret had showed up in the Rexburg area and on Thursday I saw a flock of migrating mountain bluebirds and several species of shorebirds on a canal. It appears that most of the tundra swans have moved north with many of the trumpeter swans.

Traditionally, the snow geese stay around until the first of May, but who knows what will happen this year. During the next week, I will be watching for more flocks to show up in the area from Market Lake to Camas National Wildlife Refuge and will keep you informed on my column and on my facebook page.

There are still a lot of elk and deer being killed on the highways, so please be careful and be safe as you watch for the migrations. I am excited about the shorebird migration as this should be an excellent opportunity to view them with this wet spring. Have a great week. It is time to enjoy the sunny outdoors.