Goose Galore

For some reason I felt like I'd already used this title for a blog, but apparently not. The name's just too good... But it perfectly describes my last couple weeks! It all started the day before I left before Mexico, when I found two Cackling Geese at Columbia Lake in Waterloo, a county lifer for me. Then of course I was away for a week in Mexico, but during that time, a Barnacle Goose showed up back home in Ontario near Schomburg! Although I desperately wanted the goose, I was perfectly happy birding for Mexican endemics every morning... But as soon as I got back, the Barnacle Goose came to the forefront of my mind. I waited an agonizing week while it was still being seen, and I kept getting comments about how wild it acted, and how likely it was to be accepted by the OBRC (Ontario Bird Records Committee). So I went about my goose-less weekdays, anticipating my trip up to Algonquin Park for some boreal birding, where I was hoping to stop at Schomburg along the way up or down. I quickly began calling Schomburg, 'Scumberg', because I found out that I'd have to wait another few days, because we couldn't stop on the way up, and with big warming events coming the day I was hoping to see it, things weren't looking great. Algonquin was great, and I got year birds Grey Jay, White-winged and Red Crossbills, and although we dipped on Spruce Grouse and Black-backed Woodpecker, it was still a very enjoyable trip. So eventually the day arrived. We got to the lagoons it had been frequenting at about 4:30, supposedly a good time to see it, as it seemed to have a habit of flying off with it's Canada Goose friends at almost exactly 6 pm everyday to feed in the nearby fields, which would make it much harder to find. I scanned the first pond many times, but could only pull up a handful of Canada's, along with some FOY (First of Year) Ring-necked Ducks. I noticed another car driving out of a gated area behind the main pond, so we decided to go check out that area. It turned out to be the sewage treatment yard, which had another pond visible from it's lot. The people there had just seen it! It was a surprisingly easy pick amongst the Canada's, I didn't think that it would stand out so much!

It tagged along with some of the Canada's around it, and they didn't seem to mind. I found this interesting, as many of the previous Barnacle Geese reports I've read about across the continent

often describe them associating with Cackling Geese. There was Cackler's around, but the Barnacle never got too close to them. One of the 8 Cackler's was trying super hard to look like a Canada:

See which one it is? It's a tricky one!

As the sun got lower and lower, the Barnacle seemed to be more comfortable with our presence, and came quite close.

Anyways, truly and awesome goose all the way from Greenland and beyond, and my 430th life bird, as well as my 271st Ontario bird (I plan on increasing this a lot this year!). 

And it doesn't stop there, just last easter weekend, I went up to my chalet for some family time, as well as some patch birding. After a couple of hours birding at "the lagoons", I decided to head back up the hill to our chalet. I was already feeling good about getting Redhead, but just before I left a large flock of Canada Geese flew over. I quickly scanned through them, and found 3 Cackling Geese in a little subgroup of the flock! Not only a patch bird for me, but also a new county bird! The next day while birding there, I bumped into a friend also birding. He told me that he'd had several swans (of all 3 species) at Lake Eugenia, just south of our chalet, as well as 5 Snow Geese! Needless to say, we took a little "detour" out of our grocery run. On one side of the road Trumpeter, Tundra and Mute Swans were all still present, along with tons Ring-necked Ducks, and a good assortment of other waterfowl. And across on the other side of the road... Many many geese! I scanned through, and a single Snow Goose stood out! Apparently the rest had decided to leave. But not only was there many Canada Geese and one Snow Goose, there was also 13 Cackling Geese! My highest count ever of this species!

Here's 5 of the Cackler's. Smaller size, lighter colours, stubbier bill and steeper forehead are all great ID features.

And here's a different 5.

The Snow Goose was a little farther out, but still really nice to see because I don't see them often in Ontario, and when I do, it's usually a lot farther away or just a flyover!

All in all, a very goose packed few weeks, with 18 Cackling Geese, thousands of Canada Geese, a Barnacle Goose and a Snow Goose! Too bad I couldn't split this up into a few more properly organized blog posts, but Mexico trip writing is already catching up on me. And before we know it, May is gonna be on us! I've already seen plenty of spring migrants, as I'm sure you have too!

Expect Mexico posts to be coming out soon! Good birding, and see lots of geese!