BLACKWATER CANADA GEESE

DORCHESTER'S BLACKWATER REFUGE

CANADA GEESE FROM UNGAVA, CANADA

In recent years more Canada geese are wintering on the Eastern Shore

than any other locality of North America. Most of these geese had been

wintering farther south, along the Outer Coastal Plain of North Carolina.

One recognized reason for this is 'food'. The modern harvesting of grain

corn leaves near 10% of the farmers crop in the field, thus 'food' for the

geese.

The Eastern Shore geese come from the Ungava Peninsula of far north

Canada. This Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north and Ungava Bay

on the east, and is part of the Labrador Peninsula covering 97,000

square miles. The capes of Cape Wolstenholme are it's northernmost

point. The peninsula is a treeless tundra with a large number of rivers and

lakes which flow east to west. Here it is extremely cold.

Banded bird records show that our Eastern Shore birds nest and breed

along east James Bay and Hudson Bay. Band recoveries come from the

Cree Indian and Eskimo villages which depend on the geese as part of

their food source.

The migration corridor begins at James and Hudson Bays east side, south

through Quebec, across Lake Ontario, through central New York state,

eastern Pennsylvania to the Chesapeake. In migrating these birds cruise

around 40 mph and cover 50 mile each day at the height of 2000 to 4000

feet. They try to arrive at Hudson Bay by May 1^st.

Abstract: The 1978 “Blackwater” , National Wildlife Refuge, Dorchester,

Maryland, by Brooke Meanley. By Harrison H, 01/20/19, for Facebook

readers and www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com . My abstracts are brief

quotatios of interesting reviews.