Kaska Goose Lodge ~ 2010 News
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
We arrived at Kaska around 10:00 AM Saturday morning, having a good tail-wind which made for a quick trip from Thompson. We had driven from Winnipeg up to Thompson with a lot of our supplies on August 27th, unloaded at Missinippi Air, dropped the U-Haul trailer at Crazy Pete's and headed to the hotel.
On the flight into the lodge it was very noticable that the north was very wet. As we flew over boreal forest, taiga and finally tundra on our way from Thompson to Gillam and then on to Kaska one thing that was readily apparent was how wet and lush the landscape was. All the slews, ponds, water courses and rivers were brimming. Water and land seemed to be competing for dominance in this northern section of Manitoba.
From Gillam the weather gradually began to sock in and by the time we reached York Factory, at the mouth of the Hayes River, the clouds were right down to the deck. So this is where we flew - running along the coast at an altitude of about 300 feet. The low-level flight gave us a good view of the geese and polar bears along the Hudson Bay coastline. We started seeing fair-sized flocks (150 - 300 birds) of snow geese shortly after we made the right turn at York Factory. Polar bears were numerous as well. At the "Polar Bear Hotel", which is located several miles west of Kaska, we counted over 16 bears lounging in the willows or dug into the beach ridges. As we approached Kaska Canada geese started appearing in increasing numbers.
This year is the complete opposite of last year - early vs. late spring; wet vs. dry; cool vs. hot; lots of ripe berries and good growth of wild celery vs. a poor berry crop and stunted celery growth - and last, but not least: lots of snow geese in the area early vs. very few in 2009.
When we landed at Kaska we found everything pretty-much as we had left it last September. From the air we noticed several flocks of snow and blue geese working the island near the coast and large flocks of dark geese sitting just across the Kaskattama River to the west. It was drizzling as we unloaded the plane, but a few blue patches were starting to show through the clouds. By the time we had the Pug started, loaded it with our gear and moved it from the strip to the lodge the sky was noticeably lighter.
The new Deutz generator, which we had brought into camp last fall, started with the second turn of the key and we were in business. It didn't take very long for Rick, Gerry and Jim to get the submersible water pump into the river, connect the filters, and get the water flowing to the lodge and to the staff cabin. With water, propane and electricity Melda and Diana set to work unpacking the food supplies and starting lunch for the staff as it had been an early morning.
As the day progressed and we worked at opening up the camp we started to hear and to see increasing numbers of snow geese flying overhead. Small flocks of snows continued to trickle by the lodge flying high overhead. The migration is definitely off to and early start!
On Monday, August 30th we woke up to the calling of hundreds of snows as they passed overhead. It was a blue-bird day with moderate northeasterly winds. With the favourable NE wind the geese were on the move. Good-sized flocks of snows and blues ranging in size from 30 up to several hundred birds passed by the lodge from early morning until just before 3:00 PM. The migration picked-up momentum again that evening with thousands of snows passing over us. These were all high-fliers that were taking advantage of the beneficial winds. The sounds of snows calling lasted right through the night and greeted us in the morning with geese still on the move.
Since we arrived in camp on August 28th I'd estimate we've had well over 25,000 snows pass by the camp. Our weather has turned nasty this morning with driving rain the wind picking up and blowing hard from the southeast at 20 mph with gusts at over 30 mph. This will shut down the migration for the time being.
We'll keep you posted as our season moves forward.
See you on the "Bay" this fall!
Randy Duvell
