The flocks have arrived almost exactly as expected, with a big push anticipated since early March to be around the 15-17. There were a few thousand on the 15-16 then a major push Wednesday, a St. Patrick's Day present. In the early days, birds are almost exclusively along the St. Lawrence. Areas to check run from Prescott to the Quebec border but main sites can be east of Cardinal, Iroquois, Moriatown and Morrisburg, Long Sault (but not the Long Sault Parkway which is closed until May), Lancaster and points east to past Bainsville. There could be a build up at Westley's Point in Lake St. Francis, 5 km east of South Lancaster on the south service road. I don't know if there are any birds there yet. The longer a wide shore ice shelf remains there the better. On Wednesday, the big show, about 25,000 over a four-hour period was at Long Sault. The birds came down onto the water and rested on the ice, including riding ice floes until the floes jammed up. As long as ice remains, settings like this can be a magnet for the geese. Those birds lifted off at 5:05 heading east and since they had just arrived, it is more likely that they headed past Lancaster to Lake St. Francis rather than going to fields for dinner. More could be present in the next few days. Over 100,000 make the journey from Western New York south of Kingston, following the river to Quebec. Many will remain at various points in Eastern Ontario before they all depart for Eastern Quebec then north to the Arctic in mid-May. Once some settle in anywhere for more than a day, they will be looking for cornfields to the north. All regional lagoons to the north would be frozen for a while yet as is the Ottawa River so night roosting will be back to the St. Lawrence for now. Brian Morin