Blue Goose ~ Day 291

March 14, 2015 ~ St. Joseph, MO to Bethany MO

Now this IS Missouri Gothic

Squaw Creek NWR...where the Snow Geese come. Some recent estimates were one million; the official count three days ago was 683,422.

Eagle's nest at Squaw Creek NWR - MO

About half of this 7500-acre refuge is wetlands...Missouri River bottomlands. One first sees the geese from the VC which is across the road and up a slight elevation. It is a stunning sight, especially when they rise en masse before quickly settling down again, as they do.

I had just heard about the 2000 Snow Geese in Idaho who fell out of the sky after presumably succumbing to avian cholera and heard how quickly this can happen and how the geese fly erratically and even upside-down before plummeting. It's a disturbing image, in part because these geese are so striking visually. It's a cruel fact of life that 2000 dead starlings or House Sparrows wouldn't elicit the same response. Snow Geese congregate in such dense flocks, feeding and pooping, which must facilitate transmission of bacteria.

Snow Geese at Squaw Creek NWR - MO

But apparently this isn't a major cause for alarm; humans are not susceptible and if the birds are quickly disposed of (burned), the outbreak stops. And there are millions of Snow Geese, so many they are degrading their breeding grounds in the Arctic...

There were other waterfowl also at Squaw but in more modest numbers, and I saw almost no passerines (sparrows,  etc.) There were Green-winged Teal which isn't the most common duck I've been seeing lately. And while I didn't see a Bald Eagle, this is a favorite venue for them in the winter...up to a couple hundred.

Many folks were out driving the 10-mile auto route or digiscoping at various pull-outs and observation platforms. It was a lovely early spring afternoon with those pale blue skies but very little new green showing yet. A guy with a cigarette in his mouth was looking though his camera. I watched in my rear-view mirror, and he finally just sat on the ground, still with the camera, as entranced as all of us were by this spectacle.

Missouri has many towns with names like Paris, Oregon, Miami, Glasgow, Louisisana, Mexico...maybe most states do, but saying one lives in Louisiana, Missouri, when checking into a motel or ordering over the phone must always be a little confusing. I just checked and there are nine states with cities named Paris. And then the towns striving for the worst names: Sulphur, for instance, or Industry.

Remnant grove of trees in Missouri

After driving through prosperous farming country on secondary roads, up and down long gentle rises, past impressive 3-story homes, I got to Bethany where I stayed. I ate at the Toot Toot next to a very  jovial party of ten men, half of whom were wearing Stetsons. There were also two women, one with classic honey-colored blond hair and expensive gold earrings; the other in jeans and no adornment except boots with spurs.