ML509327581

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Most likely the same bird that has been in the area for a few days now. Mixing with CAGOs on the ball field. Pink bill with black tip and bright pinkish legs. After driving out from Brooklyn to Northport High School and failing to find this bird, which had gone missing for a couple of days before turning up again yesterday, we spent a couple of hours checking other possible locations. The goose had also been reported at Tung Ting Pond, which had a nice collection of waterfowl, but no Pink-footed. The nearby Betty Allen Twin Ponds were alarmingly gooseless, but also held a small variety of waterfowl. We then checked the Northport Golf Course and the Del Vino vineyards, where a Pink-footed Goose had been observed last March. There seems to be some evidence that migrating geese can be creatures of habit, and I thought it was possible the same bird might be involved, and therefore plausibly visiting old haunts. Both of these locations were entirely goose-free except for a handful of Canadas avoiding golf balls. We then lunched and returned to the high school, where the total number of geese had increased by about 100, including the also-recently-reported Greater White-fronted. Seeing this bird certainly took the sting out of the Long Island Expressway driving, but time was running out and we decided we needed to head back without getting on our target bird, not depressed, but not exactly glowing with satisfaction either. We drove past Harborfields High School hoping its ballfields might hold geese, since it was “on the way home,” but those fields were entirely empty. Following Google Maps to the highway, we turned left on Broadway Greenlawn, along one side of Greenlawn Park. As we drove south we could see, on the far side of the park, a fair accumulation of geese, distant and obscured by several layers of chainlink fence delimiting the various baseball diamonds. “I’m going to just take the corner and drive up there,” I said “I think we have time for one last detour.” About 100 Canadas were gathered near the west corner, close to Cuba Hill Road. I pulled off onto the dusty shoulder, and didn’t even need to get out of the car to almost immediately spot the Pink-footed, an excellent final stop and perhaps an answer to the question: Where does this goose hang out when it’s not at Northport High School? This is a mid-sized goose with pink feet, a pink bill with a black tip, and no white at all about the face and bill. Images below.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

ISO

125

Focal length

247 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/400 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

5.98 MB