Warm January creates winter illusion in Delaware

In a January with little snow in northern Delaware, at least there were snow geese to give the illusion of a winter wonderland.

This year, unlike last, flocks of the birds are back, feeding in farm fields, roosting on the Atlantic Ocean and flying overhead in great waves of white.

Sure, the numbers aren't like what they used to be, when a million birds would congregate at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. But they are more common this year than last.

And therein lies the story of the weather.

Last January was pretty warm, and December of 2015 was even warmer -- the warmest December ever in Delaware since the National Weather Service Started keeping records. Some waterfowl biologists thought the birds stopped short -- wintering and feeding in Pennsylvania and New York or even in New England. Migratory birds, they argued, only travel as far south as they have to to meet food and habitat needs.

The theory was that if waterways remained ice free, the birds had no reason to move farther south.

But now, they are rethinking that idea.

"We're learning a lot more about waterfowl year after year," said Chris Dwyer, migratory game bird biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region. Among those lessons is that these birds may be more scattered throughout their winter range during mild winters, he said.

Delaware's Division of Fish & Wildlife staffers fly the state twice a month to count duck and goose populations in winter.

"I see thousands of them sitting out on Delaware Bay, said Justyn Foth, a state game bird biologist.

The mid-winter survey counts for snow geese numbered 39,439 birds in late December and 20,880 in early January, he said.

Those numbers are better than 2016 but they aren't the usual peak for Delaware.

Snow geese normally arrive in late October in numbers so impressive they attract tourists from around the world. Last year, they didn't arrive until January. This year, it was December.

STORY: Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow, predicts 6 more weeks of winter

STORY: Trump makes unannounced trip to Dover Air Force Base

No one is certain why or if the birds are shifting their winter habitat and altering migration patterns.

The story of snow geese has shifted over time. In the early 1900s, the population was down to a low of several thousands birds. Federal officials stepped in with a management plan in 1981 with the goal that the population – then at 200,000 birds – not slip below 120,000.

They were a rarity in Delaware and the midwinter epicenter was the marshes of Virginia and North Carolina.

With management, the population grew and by 2009; it was estimated at over 1 million birds.

That year, federal wildlife officials imposed a Snow Goose Conservation Order within the Atlantic Flyway, an area that includes Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The idea was to use hunting to reduce and stabilize the growing snow goose populations.

Biologists feared that the large numbers of birds destroyed the habitat they depended upon both in the Arctic breeding areas and migration hot spots like Bombay Hook and Prime Hook National Wildlife refuges.

During the spring last year, biologists monitored snow goose populations in the St. Lawrence Valley in Quebec. The population was estimated at 915,000 birds -- up about 12 percent from the survey conducted in the spring of 2015. Overall, the estimated 2016 population was 1 percent higher than the 10-year trend.

Delaware will again allow a special, split season snow goose hunt Feb. 6 through 10 and Feb. 13 through April 7. Hunters can target snow geese only during these two seasons with no hunting allowed on Sundays. There is no daily bag or possession limit and hunters can use unplugged shotguns and electronic calls during this special season.

While state wildlife areas will be opened to snow goose hunting under during the special order, neither Prime Hook nor Bombay Hook National Wildlife refuges will be participating.

Delaware wildlife officials see the special order as a way to help keep the population in check. As the population grew, more birds stopped along the Delaware Bay.

Some biologists believe local corn, soybean and winter wheat fields provided a reliable food supply for the birds on the Delmarva Peninsula.

And winter temperatures may also play a role.

Delaware got a cold blast and snow in the beginning of January. The low for the month at NewCastleCounty airport was 10 degrees on Jan. 9. That didn't come close to the record low for the date of 2 degrees set in 1970. Three days later, a record high for the date was set when it reached 68. The old record, for the date, 63, was set in 1913.

As for the month, both the high and low temperatures were well above normal. The average high for the month was 44.5, 4.3 degrees above normal. The average low for the month was 30.6, 6 degrees above normal.

The mean temperature of 37.6 was 5.2 degrees above normal.

December's mean temperature was also slightly above normal by 1.2 degrees.

As for snow, that was a mixed bag, depending on where you were in Delaware. Parts of lower Delaware got 10 inches of snow or more during a Jan. 7 storm.

But in northern Delaware, total snowfall for the month was 4.5 inches, slightly below the normal of 5.9 inches. January 2016 was far snowier with 16.9 inches.

Contact Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.