Snow Geese

This morning I was running early on my way to work. Mainly because there was no frost on my windows. Then, in an incredible struck of luck, I spotted two immature Snow Geese in the field outside my neighborhood. This field has a near constant flock of Canada Geese in the fall, winter and spring, and despite my constant scanning - they always remain Canada Geese - unless of course there are a smattering of Rock Pigeons thrown in for good measure or spite.


Not today though - real, live, Snow Geese! Two of them! Why did the Snow Geese pick this morning to appear? Because this morning, @#$%, I had left my camera bag at home!

"Don't leave Geese!" I thought to myself as I made the split decision to correct that oversight.

I find it amazing that anxiety can reach such levels in moments it took me to turn back into my neighborhood, navigate safely to my house, retrieve my gear, drive back to the edge of the neighborhood, park, cross the divided two lane street on foot, and then, (having confirmed the birds had not been chased off by a happily walked dog), walk along the field to a position where I was not shooting into the sun.


Needless to say, I was happy they hadn't picked those few minutes to leave! Both birds, the second is visible in the top picture - facing away and feeding (AKA the moon shot) - are first year birds, and are trading out their dark plumage for the snowy white feathers they will show for the rest of their lives.


In addition to switching to their 'snow' white plumage, the birds' bare parts, (bills and feet), will turn mostly pink, except for the grin patch on the bill which will remain dark. Check my previous Snow Geese posts for adults in traditional and 'Blue' phases. This bird was nice enough to stretch, showing off the dark primary feathers on its wing, which will remain dark, but are generally hidden when it is standing or swimming and the wing is folded. These were my first juvenile Snow Geese, first of the year Snow Geese, and the first time I had seen more than one at a time in my home county. Not a bad way to spend a few extra minutes before work.

On the topic of good sightings, John Vanderpoel, a Colorado birder, is really tearing it up on his Big Year bid, if you haven't seen his blog yet be sure to check it out in the next six weeks. I have a feeling it is going to be a wild ride down to the end of 2011!

Digiscoped Snow Goose

Driving home this evening I caught a glimpse of white among some feeding Canada Geese in the Broomfield "field". After wondering while waiting at the next light whether I had seen a plastic bag or a bird I decided to take the chance and head back for another look. I pulled into the conveniently located historical farmhouse parking lot and had a great look at a smallish white goose.


Fortunately today was the first day I was ready with a new bit of technology. A spotting scope and adapter now allow me to join the ranks of digiscopers - hopefully giving me an opportunity to get more detail on distant birds, and as a result some more tricky ids in the future.


In the field this evening I was leaning to calling this bird a Ross's Goose. It was smaller than the surrounding Canadas, and appeared to have a small bill. Glad I had pictures! Note the forehead of this bird. A Snow Goose's head continues up from the bill along roughly the same angle as the bill itself. For a Ross's Goose the forehead rises more sharply from the top of the bill and shows a bit more angle. The other solid field mark for a Snow Goose is a grin patch on the bill. The grin patch is a dark area on the bill itself that gives an impression of an opening. The low light of the evening didn't really allow the feature to show, but I believe close zooms reveal it to be there. From all this I come away with the feeling that this is a Lesser Snow Goose.


As my first white goose in my home county I am glad to have seen it. Had I not been ready with scope and camera I would have likely walked away with an incorrect id, or at least doubts about the details I had missed.

Not everything had been quite as smooth on my scope rig's inaugural day. I woke early this morning and was in position on Baseline Reservoir at sunrise. After a 3/4 mile walk with tripod, scope, camera and bins I was ready for some great shots - but realized that I had left my memory card back in the truck. Fittingly, as I stood trying to bask in the beautiful morning, just binocular birding and not worried about getting shots I had three loons approach. Two were Common Loons, and the third was a ...Pacific Loon. All three came right up to shore at the point where I was watching. So, I regret being unable to share pictures of the best loon looks I have gotten; but trust me they were a great way to start the day.

The scope rig requires a more manual photographic approach, so there will probably be some additional growing pains along the way. Hopefully there will be more looks to share soon though, so check back in the days and weeks to come.

Weather & Goose Update

This Red-Winged Blackbird had to adjust his perch this morning to accommodate some early season buds.

Bring the kid, simple things like spring buds deserve to be shared on a beautiful morning, even if technically it is still winter.

I returned to Stearn's Lake last evening and again this morning because of all the Chen Goose excitement. Chen is a family of goose that includes Emperor, Snow, and Ross's Species. It is amazing that experienced birders can come to the same lake that I visit and pick out many more abnormal species than I ever detect, but then those are probably the same people who can identify minutiae on a Gull to determine what species and age it is. I am nowhere near that level, and for those people, picking out a rare goose must be a nice change of pace.

I must content myself with my camera and bins, they certainly give me enough identification challenges at this point. So I checked the lake again with better light on my way to work. Two of the three Snow Geese were around, with the white one hanging out even closer to shore this morning.

Perhaps his pose indicates the attitude he has to all the attention that is being paid to his "blue" counterparts. Anthropomorphic I know, "butt" really, watch out where you point that thing buddy! After I took his picture a few times his ego must have been satisfied. He resumed a much more proper pose for a dignified goose.

The "blues" continue to draw interest to Stearn's Lake. I caught one of them while I was there this morning.

I believe that he is the same Snow Goose that has been causing ID questions for me all year. At least he seems to think all the people around are worth a laugh, or maybe they are just preventing him from sleeping in.

Two posts already this morning, and I am just off for my mid-day walk. I even saw the Bald Eagle perched in the trees across from my office earlier today, and that was just going for a cup of coffee. Hopefully other good things await.

2009 Count: 56

Lifetime: 86

Snow Goose & Gulls

Yesterday the call went out to COBirds that there was a "Blue" Ross's Goose at Stearn's Lake, along with a traditional white Snow Goose. I was fairly confident that it was the same "Blue" Snow Goose that I had seen previously, but I went over to the lake to check what was there at lunch. I did find both birds. The White Snow Goose was prominent walking on the ice, but the "blue" had his head tucked against a strong wind. Without getting a good look I was still confident that it was a Snow Goose as opposed to a Ross's because of its comparable size to the Canada Geese around it; a Ross's Goose is noticeably smaller. I returned to work to see that another Broomfield birder had already replied with the correct ID. (It is nice to get confirmation though).
After work I pulled back in at Stearn's to see if the "blue" had moved, it had not but the white Snow Goose was much closer to shore, allowing me to get the picture above.
Before leaving I walked down to the dam and caught a Gull gliding in the strong wind.



After a quick look and seeing that the original Snow had not moved I headed back for the car, and on to Plaster Reservoir, where the other birder reported that he had seen a White Ross's Goose in the morning.
If it had been there it was long gone. I walked towards a golf course on the far side of the lake to see if anyone out enjoying a mid winter round would stir anything interesting out of the trees.
That didn't happen, but the setting sun and strong wind provided a great setting to catch more Ring-Billed Gulls coming in to the lake for the evening.



Sometimes the water is so close you can almost taste it, right gull?

I believe that birdwatching is catching on more than many people know. As I stood in the open catching gulls on the wing, a pair of eyes in a blind were watching me!

He probably has his bins and field guide stashed in there as well. Hopefully he could check me off as a lifer!

2009 Count: 56

Lifetime: 86

Snow Goose!

Clear mild morning. When I heard that on the morning news I knew that there wouldn't be more snoozing on the alarm clock. I rolled out to get another visit to Stearns Lake in before work.

Much better! Now I don't have to rely on pictures that may or may not be used as evidence for the existence of bigfoot. My persistence paid off, after scanning about half of the lake for last night's potential hybrid I found him swimming. He headed right towards me and cut across the near side of the lake. I watched him and was able to pick out his distinct higher pitch call from the hundreds of honks coming from the Canadian Geese.

As I was looking through the viewfinder and listening to his vocalization I suddenly heard the apx. 3000 geese begin to warning honk in unison. I looked up to see the elusive Bald Eagle making a pass towards me across the lake. Nice.

Now when each person I see at that lake asks the obligatory, "Have you seen the Bald Eagle?" I can answer Yes, and then point out the more uncommon Snow Goose to them. Of course I turned my attention back to the Snow Goose and took a few more pictures as he swam around.

I continued my walk to the farmland to the south, and got a good shot of another juvenile Red-tailed Hawk above me in a cottonwood.

After taking too much time near the hawk I was hurrying back to my car, but had to stop for a few frames of a light toned Coyote before I left.

2009 Count: 46

Lifetime: 84

Ross's X Snow Goose Hybrid?

I pulled off back at Stearns this evening and took my bins, (no camera), and went out to walk the lake. Sure enough I get to the water and spot a white head. I took a good look and thought the isolated white head was different from the previous Snow Goose. I ran to the parking lot, grabbed camera, ran back, attempted to hold still for the extended low light exposure...yeah right. Well I got a few picks.

The lack of white on the neck and apparent white on the belly are Ross's indicators. The sloped forehead, size, and lack of white tertials are Snow traits. It seems strange that both birds, different individuals based on picture comparison, are "blue" (dark morphs). Apparently the white forms are more common, but I haven't seen them yet.

Goose. Goose. Snow Goose.

Up early this morning for a work day. Since it was warm, 40s, and there was no scraping to be done on the car windows I had plenty of time to gas up the car on the way to work. Traffic was non-existent, and my back way to work takes me past a reservoir as well. I stopped by as I was early for my expected slow day. The sunrise was spectacular, and several thousand geese were honking as I arrived.
I expected that the sun would peak out and trigger a massive take-off by the geese, but the clouds that had provided the backdrop for the sunrise prevented direct sunlight from ever reaching the lake.
So instead of getting an overwhelming and inspirational sight, I had a chance to do some scanning of the throngs. In the midst of the groups I picked out a white head. My initial thought of gull was, clearly wrong, so I took a number of shots to help me determine if it was an odd plumage, hybrid, or something else.

Something else indeed. From my investigations this appears to be a Dark Plumage, or "Blue" Snow Goose. First life-list tick of 2009!

A nice surprise for a quick morning stop. The area turned up a good bit of variety including a group of Tree Sparrows near the parking lot. Have a great weekend!

2009 Count: 26

Lifetime: 81