Animals: Blue Geese

Chasing wild geese is so unrewarding it has become a proverb. Ornithologists have long gritted their teeth over the mystery of where the Blue Geese (Chen caerulescens) go in spring. From their winter quarters in the secluded swamp-lands of lower Louisiana the geese fly north so far and fast they literally disappear into the blue. But in 1929 a Canadian naturalist and explorer named Dr. Joseph Dewey Soper at last found a happy ending to his wild-goose chase. He traced the geese into the remote fastness of Baffin Island, deep in the Canadian Northeast, discovered their nesting place.

Last week, as they started their annual southern flight, the geese made news again that thinned out into another mystery: Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Eskimos and Indians reported that the geese had almost no young birds with them, although about 50% of the southbound flocks are usually goslings. Possible explanation: The nestlings were struck by an eastern Arctic storm which only the older birds were able to escape.