As I posted on February 7th, John Sepenoski came across 3 Barnacle Geese while scanning a flock of roughly 1500 Canada Geese in the farm fields along Roanoke Avenue in Riverhead. Fortunately I was somewhat nearby and managed to quickly join John in viewing this interesting trio. Two of the Barnacle Geese were adults while the other was an apparent juvenile showing more weakly patterned upperparts with narrower black barring and smudgier feathering below the hindneck. The group fed tightly amongst each other and clearly exhibited a bond.
I did some eBird sleuthing yesterday and found a record of 3 individuals in Broad Brook, CT on January 3, 2016, something I was unaware of prior to seeing the Riverhead birds. Careful examination of photographs indeed shows the same trio that we viewed in Riverhead on February 7th. For those interested, I’ve copied and pasted the links to two eBird checklists from both locations with photos: Broad Brook, CT - 3 Jan 2016 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26647987 Riverhead, NY - 7 Feb 2016 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27373390 Amazingly this is the second record of a juvenile "Western Palearctic goose" that has turned up on Long Island this year, the first being the Millers Pond Pink-footed Goose found by Phil Uruburu on January 1st (likely the first juv ever recorded in NYS). The vast majority of these rare winter visitors are adults so perhaps this is a sign of things to come! Other recent Riverhead goose notables include a lingering Pink-footed Goose last seen by Bob Adamo on February 7th on the east side of Roanoke Avenue just south of Reeves Avenue (same location as the three Barnacle Geese). A single Cackling Goose was also present. Its worth noting that there’s a steep dip in the terrain that completely blocks views of one of the main feeding areas, so patience may be required when trying to track down some of these birds. Hopefully they are still around! Best, Derek Rogers Sayville -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
