Winter Animal Sightings

Mike and I have seen (and heard) many snow geese flying overhead in the last week.  We have also seen them in nearby fields and near ponds but never ours.

Canadian snow geese, primarily from Ontario Canada, migrate in October to  Illinois.  Usually from February thru March they begin the trip home again.  However their spring flight plans are impacted by snow and cold winds from the north which can hold them here or warm southernly winds which will encourage the geese to get moving. We must have had the warm southernly winds because they are already on the move.

The snow geese used to spend their winters closer to the Mississippi River but man-made changes in the river causing a depletion of bottom lands so the geese have been seeking other areas where there are bodies of water and crops along the fly way.  Our body of water has a lot of trees around it so I guess they avoid our property in favor of those that have larger ponds and more crops.

Actual animal sightings on our land have been limited to a coyote.  Mike was walking the dogs the other day when one crossed their path.  Almost immediately a pack of the coyote hunter's dogs followed and all of Mike's dogs joined them.  However, our dogs gave up the hunt pretty quickly and came back to Mike.

We know we have other animals on the property because Mike has set up a camera at the edge of the soy bean field.  This is what we have found on the camera lately.

A fox

A squirrel
I included this picture because we saw a lot of squirrels while at my parents house in California.
We think her squirrels are fat.  This is possibly because the neighbor is feeding them peanuts.  

“The best time (to hunt), is any time during the peak migration from February to mid-March,” Shoot said. “We hunt them until the end of March.”
The snow geese migrate back north in the spring when the frozen water thaws. Shoot said the birds need open water. “They got to have water to roost,” he said.
When the spring migration begins, large numbers of snow geese pass through the area in a matter of weeks. They migrate quickly, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles at a time.

Snow geese often move through an area in waves, often staying only a day or two and seldom more than a week.  That’s why the outfitters have their hunts near feeding and roosting areas by fields, sloughs, or lakes.  Waterfowl hunters accustomed to fall hunting and migrations that are pushed by northern cold fronts need to adjust their thinking, Shoot said. Snow and cold winds from the north can stop a spring migration while warm southerly winds will encouage the geese to move.
Gusty winds and fogs are favorable conditions for goose hunts. They usually fly lower.
Bright sunny “bluebird” days will have the snow geese remaining in one area and flying at higher altitudes.

  Most of the geese that fill the October skies of Illinois and surrounding states in the familiar "V" formation are part of the Mississippi Valley Population (MVP)-a flock that breeds in the Hudson Bay lowlands of northern Ontario and migrates each fall to pre-determined areas in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky and sometimes as far south as the Mississippi River delta.
Illinois' 58,000 acres of government operated refuges, covering parts of Jackson, Union, Alexander and Williamson Counties, attract the largest contingent of these winter guests. Hunters and visitors to the area spend millions of dollars each year. This significant source of income, coupled with the delicate maintenance required for the population's survival, has state and federal officials keeping close tabs on the geese.
The vast congregation of Canada geese in southern Illinois (which peaked at over 500,000 in 1977) represents an evolution caused both by nature and man.
"When we think of the Canada goose in its migration south, we associate it with the Mississippi River, its bayous and flood plains. That is where they naturally spend their winters, " said W. D. Klimstra, director of the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. "But with dramatic man-made changes in the river causing a depletion of bottom lands, we needed to compensate with development of resource and conservation areas."

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(This article is excerpted from one of a series of features about places, people and attractions in Illinois provided by the Office of Tourism. The author is a staff employee of the Office.)

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In 1927 the state-managed 3,500-acre Horseshoe Lake Refuge in Alexander County was established. Named after an ancient oxbow of the Mississippi River and dammed to retain water year-round, the refuge attracted 30,000 geese after five years. Over the next 15 years the flock grew and stabilized at 50,000.
In 1947, the state designated 6,000 acres as the Union County Canada Goose Management Area and the Illinois populations began to multiply. The flock grew to over 150,000 in 1954 and by 1977 the highest count ever was recorded at 575,000. Since then the population has stabilized at around 300,000. The counts include all of Illinois and Kentucky's Ballard County Wildlife Refuge.
In September or October (depending on the weather) the nearly three million Canada geese make their exodus southward. There are four general flyways. The Atlantic Flyway's migrate to Delaware and along the east coast to Florida; the Central Flyway's stop in northern Texas with some moving on to the Gulf Coast; the Pacific Flyway's winter along major California Rivers; and the Mississippi Flyway's center in Illinois.



  Geese are grazing birds feeding mainly on the crops along the flyway. At the three southern Illinois refuges, 17,000 acres are farmed to accommodate the wintering guests. They feed on clover, alfalfa and a variety of grains.