ML533149051

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Lifer! Rare. Continuing at this location. Immediately stood out because of small size and white coloration. Short bill with "grin patch" hardly visible, as well as clean white head. See attached pics. I arrived at the park at 3:45 pm, and didn't see any geese at all for the first few minutes (getting a little nervous it wouldn't be there!). I walked around the lake and could tell there was a large Canada Goose flock at the eastern end, but it wasn't until I was quite close that I noticed the Ross's Goose (at 3:55pm), as it was close to the shore and previously hidden by the trees. I watched and photographed the Ross's Goose until 5:15pm from the side of the path. It was standing and resting in shallow water about 50 feet from shore. For the majority of the time, it had its head tucked into its feathers, but it would occasionally lift its head up to preen or look around when the Canada Geese were making a ruckus. The Ross' Goose became more active towards sunset. At 4:38pm it called once, with a piercing quality, much higher pitched than Canada Geese. At 4:50pm it gave a nice wing flap (see pics), and started walking around more. At 5:10pm it moved out towards the center of the lake with the Canada Geese. What a gorgeous goose!

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

ISO

200

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/4.0

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

4462 pixels x 3188 pixels

Original file size

7.51 MB