Greater Snow Goose Population Monitoring

Greater Snow Geese are back at the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Fall 2013

Since 1978, the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area (NWA) has witnessed a spectacular increase in the Greater Snow Goose population. Indeed, at the beginning of the century, the population was only about 3 000 birds but now there are more than 1 million. The Cap Tourmente NWA was created to ensure this species’ survival. During their biennial journey between the Atlantic coast and the Far North, Greater Snow Geese stop in this area where they feed on American Bulrush rhizomes and also grain in the fields.

The Canadian Wildlife Service publishes regularly a graph illustrating the number of Greater Snow Geese in the Cap Tourmente NWA for the duration of their fall stay. Counts from Greater Snow Goose surveys conducted at Cap Tourmente NWA this year are available in graph 1. 

Graph 1 : Histogram presenting the number of Greater Snow Geese
at Cap Tourmente NWA , Fall 2013
(Data for this graph are available in table form below)

Table 1 : Number of Greater Snow Geese
at Cap Tourmente NWA , Fall 2013

Date	Number of Greater Snow Geese observed
September 13	5600
September 14	9000
September 15	5300
September 18	18000
September 20	15000
September 23	27000
September 25	40000
September 27	34000
September 30	43500
October 1	38000

At high tide, Greater Snow Geese are sometimes nearer to the shore and more numerous in the fields; observation is thus much easier (tide tables).

The Greater Snow Geese surveys done at Cap Tourmente NWA over the last three falls show a peak abundance around mid-October.  Up to 66 500 Greater Snow Geese were counted in 2010.

Graph 2 : Number of Greater Snow Geese
at Cap Tourmente NWA for 2010, 2011 and 2012
(Data for this graph are available in table form below)

Table 2 : Number of Greater Snow Geese
at Cap Tourmente NWA for 2010, 2011 and 2012

Date	2010	2011	2012
September 18		1 200
September 19
September 20
September 21			4 000
September 22			4 700
September 23		6 300	4 500
September 24		8 100
September 25
September 26	12 650
September 27
September 28		13 300	9 700
September 19	25 000	17 700
September 30		32 600
October 1st	37 000	34 300	35 200
October 2			31 500
October 3	29 500	33 300	30 000
October 4	26 500	43 500
October 5	27 500		45 000
October 6		54 000	50 000
October 7		52 500	47 500
October 8	32 000	27 800	29 000
October 9	63 000	8 400	48 500
October 10	66 500	18 400
October 11		21 900
October 12	63 000	33 500	35 800
October 13	46 000	23 000	42 500
October 14	45 700	19 300	39 000
October 15	32 500	6 500
October 16	35 000	19 300	50 000
October 17		33 300	57 500
October 18	46 000	27 500
October 19	58 500	25 600	33 500
October 20	37 000	28 000	39 800
October 21	43 500	15 700	49 000
October 22	39 000		41 500
October 23	44 500	31 500	36 000
October 24	44 500	31 500
October 25	38 500	15 000	36 800
October 26	34 000
October 27	28 000
October 28	42 000	16 000
October 29	42 000	14 100
October 30		16 200
October 31	31 200