Barking birds: Snow goose population makes its way through southwest Iowa

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They’re unmistakable. With nearly every feather on most of their bodies as white as a winter’s day, there’s no surprise why they’re called snow geese. Chad Paup, Department of Natural Resources wild life biologist, said the sound a snow goose makes is unique, as well. “It’s more of a bark than a honk,” Paup said. In recent weeks, snow geese have been making their way through southwest Iowa in some pretty impressive numbers. Paup estimated there were 20,000 snow geese in both Lake Icaria south of Corning and Green Valley Lake near Creston. The birds first pass through the area in the fall, and return north in the early spring. Paup said adult flocks of snow geese are almost all gone from the area, but adolescent populations can be seen stopping to rest on area lakes through April. “The adults usually pass through first because they have a nesting instinct,” Paup explained. “They want territory and they want to start breeding.” Population explosion In the past 30 years, the snow geese population in Iowa has more than tripled — up approximately 1.4 million birds. Today, there are more than 6 million of the birds in North America. This is not exactly a good thing, Paup said. The abundance of snow geese has already shown signs of detriment to their arctic nesting areas near Churchill in Manitoba, Canada, according to Paup. “They feed on salt water sedges, and when they overgraze on that, it takes decades for some of those beds to come back,” said Paup. “They just keep expanding the areas where they graze. They also displace others like Canada geese and numerous shore birds.” Hunters welcome One surefire way to control the snow goose population is a liberal hunting policy. Since 1999, waterfowl hunters have been allowed to hunt snow geese as they pass through Iowa. Paup said the current conservation order regarding snow geese allows each hunter to shoot 20 of the birds per day between Feb. 1 and April 15. John Tapken, director of the Union County Conservation Board, said he has seen many people take advantage of this March hunting opportunity. Tapken said he has known snow geese to occupy areas north of Creston, near the 3 Mile and 12 Mile lakes cabins. He added, large groups of hunters from outside the area come to hunt the snow geese and other waterfowl for a week or more at a time. “They set up several hundred or thousands of decoys,” said Tapken while describing the elaborate tactics required to hunt snow geese. “It’s not uncommon for them to come back with a pickup bed full of snow geese.” Paup said hunting practices related to the snow geese are saving the species from itself. “If they continued to deplete their habitat up there, which is very crucial to their young, their numbers will crash,” he said. —————— Andy Goodell can be reached at (641) 782-2141 ext. 242 or agoodell@crestonnews.com