Chirps and Cheeps

A Photo Journal of My Birding Adventures & Observations

My birding blog site


  Tundra Swans on the Move

Published: February 28, 2018
Tags: General Observations, tundra swan, greater white-fronted goose, red-shouldered hawk

I headed out to Wyoming County today, making a quick stop at Sinking Ponds on the way.  As I was ready to leave Sinking Ponds, I heard a lot of whistling and noise from overhead, like that Tundra Swans make.  Sure enough, 3 separate flocks flew over during the next few minutes, their numbers estimated at around 150!  One flock was huge!

After that, I stopped at Glor Pond outside of Varysburg and was amazed at the huge number of Tundra Swans in the pond.  What a noise they made!  I tried to get an accurate count of them as I could, which came to 357.  The sight was incredible, especially for such a small pond!  I heard many reports later in the day of large numbers of Tundra Swans all over Western New York.  They were surely on the move today!

A short while later, as I continued to scope the perimeter of the pond, I came upon four Greater White-fronted Geese.  It turns out this was the first record ever recorded for this species in Wyoming County!  What a thrill to get this first county sighting!

Since I was close to Beaver Meadow, an Audubon nature preserve, I drove through there hoping for a sighting of a Pine Siskin.  No luck with that bird but I did get a nice view of an adult Red-shouldered Hawk.

I ended the day back a little closer to home at Winter's Pond in Langford.  Another huge number of Tundra Swans awaited.  This pond is much larger than Glor Pond but the sight was still overwhelming.  I didn't do an actual count this time, but I estimated around 400 Tundra Swans were there.  The noise, again, was deafening.

blog photo
Tundra Swans flying over Sinking Ponds in East Aurora

blog photo
Tundra Swans swimming around in Glor Pond

blog photo
More swans coming in to Glor Pond

blog photo
Four Greater White-fronted Geese at Glor Pond

blog photo
A Red-shouldered Hawk at Beaver Meadow

blog photo
More Tundra Swans at Winter's Pond in Langford



button link to my bird search