Now that those are out of the way I can get around to some real news...
I saw a Tundra Bean-Goose today. Yep - just about as exciting as a goose sighting can get over here! The only way today could have been better is if the other Euro geese would have cooperated... Anyway, Dom Cormier and I headed down to Yarmouth this morning first thing, and managed to get pretty amazing views of the Bean-Goose, which I believe is the serrirostris subspecies of Tundra Bean-Goose (but that's just me). I also got a few shots documenting the 'spurs' (hind toes), which is a good sign it is a wild bird. This is a first record for Nova Scotia and only the third for Canada (the other two are from Quebec and the Yukon).
After a (fairly quick) photoshoot during which the sun came out for about 3 seconds, we headed to almost the other end of the province (Onslow/Masstown area) to try for some other Eurasian geese, an endeavour in which we failed miserably. There have been a Barnacle and a Pink-footed Goose hanging out here, and they seem to be fairly reliable. Not so today! We searched for about 2 hours until it got too dark to see and only managed to turn up a Cackling Goose for our troubles. Maybe next weekend... We figure we would have been the first people to have seen all three of these Eurasian geese in one day had we gotten them!
The very cooperative bird!
Showing off both spurs
You'd be tired too if you flew from Siberia to Nova Scotia!
It didn't seem too perturbed as I crawled up to it on my stomach - this is not cropped (300mm)
1 comment:
There is also an Ontario record of "Bean Goose" --- three videographed (motion pictures) taken at Port Colborne (Niagara) on April 9, 1933. The movie currently resides in the ROM archives. I guess it depends on what "subspecies" these birds are, re wild versus captive origin.
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