Thursday, September 30, 2010

Greater White-fronted Goose

My last day walking service roads at TRNWR turned out to be an interesting one. While there where not a lot of birds, I did see two new lifetime birds; a Golden-crowned Kinglet and a Greater White-fronted Goose. Plus I got up close and personal with a Red-breasted Nuthatch.
As I was walking across the central part of the refuge, what I thought was a large nondescript duck flew over head. I took a few shots of it as it flew over me thinking it will probably just turn out to be a Mallard. But when I viewed the images on my computer this evening, I got to thinking this might be something new. The white area below and above the tail was not something I have seen before. I have been reading on OBOL lately that people had been seeing White-fronted Geese, so I looked it up in my field guide and sure enough, that appears to be what this is. Based on Sibley's illustrations this is a Juvenile as its belly is missing the bars that an adult has.

No comments:

Post a Comment