I enjoyed an excellent day of birding around Long Island's North Shore and Riverhead area with Chase Cammarota today. The undoubted highlight was when a second PINK-FOOTED GOOSE appeared out of the 4,000 plus Canada Geese that were feeding in the large field at the northeast intersection of Reeve's and Roanoke Avenue and Riverhead.
When we first arrived around 11:45 AM we immediately noticed a densely packed congregation of Canada Geese feeding at the above specified location. There, we quickly located a Pink-footed Goose that obliged us with excellent views as it fed, stretched and preened toward the south end and in front of the entire flock. Once we got our fill, we moved on to try and locate some Cackling Geese when we heard a strange, unfamiliar goose call from the north section of the flock. I decided to focus my attention in that general area and after a few minutes my scope got tripped up on a second Pink-footed Goose! This was undoubtedly the unfamiliar calling goose that we heard. Both Pink-footed Geese did not associate with one another and actively fed with different flocks. Back and forth comparison of both geese yielded subtle differences in overall tone and bill coloration. One of the Pink-foots seemed slightly paler overall with just a tad less duskiness on it's bill tip. Other birders on site were able to corroborate these subtle, yet apparent, individual differences (which may not be reflected so well on my distant digiscope shots). Chase and I left the giant goose flock at 1:30 and by that time both Pink-footed Geese had wandered off and out of view. In fact, most of the flock had dispersed and more loosely scattered about the entire area. One of the Pink-foots (south most feeding bird) took flight and landed a bit further to the northeast, but stayed in the same general area. The north most feeding goose wandered off past a small berm, also toward the northeast, and eventually got lost in the mess of Canadas. This was one of the larger flocks of Canada Geese that I've seen and birds continued to file in until we left the location. Other notables included 2 Cackling Geese (1 picked out by Anthony Collerton and I was soon able to return the favor) and a single Greater White-fronted Goose (I believe Bob Proenowych called this one out but apologies if I'm in error). I guess the glaring question is just how long have these two Pink-footed Geese been around? I heard speculation of possibly two birds about a week ago. I also understand that there was a recent, large influx of geese in the past day or two in speaking with active birders on both the North and South Forks of Long Island. Perhaps a recent arrival? Some distant digiscope shots of today's Pink-footed Geese can be seen on my Flickr link below. I also included a map showing the area in which both Pink-foots were seen. Best, Derek Rogers Sayville http://www.flickr.com/photos/39025168@N07/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
