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Community Corner

Chasing Birds: The One That Didn't Get Away

Spotting that rare, hard to find bird can be just as satisfying as the chase for anything elusive.

Getting a life bird is like finally nailing down that cherry blossom Depression glass creamer that you’ve been searching for…for what seems like forever. Or collecting stamps or coins, or seeing a new dragonfly or moth, or the perfect 18th-century silver spoon with a ceramic inset. It’s like making the right bid on an eBay autograph that you have always wanted. 

I’ve said before that the search can be as important and exciting as the find. Every time you go out to look for something new, you never know what will show up. 

Yesterday, at 5:20 p.m. a report was posted on a New Jersey birding list that a Pink-fronted Goose had been spotted in a small lake in Washington Township, above Paramus. This bird is referred to as “vagrant” in eastern Canada and the U.S., but there are very scattered reports (over many years) from Maine to Pennsylvania. I called three friends and did find one who was free to “chase” the bird the next day.  

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Two or three additional posts early that morning followed the announcement, with some people reporting seeing the bird and others not. I emailed one of the spotters and asked that he phone me if and when the bird was back on the lake. He agreed. But an email from a different birder immediately after that indicated the bird was no longer on the lake, and a search of the surrounding area turned up nothing. We decided to go to a shore location to get better shots of a different bird that has been around much of the winter but isn’t common to our area. We arrived at that location and spent perhaps 15 minutes searching in vain for White-winged Crossbills when a call came in that the goose was back on the lake. I said we’d be there in 90 minutes. Our friend said he’d stay around. 

It was a quick drive to the lake where we met our friend. The bird was in a location we could walk close to, about 150 feet away, feeding on the shore-side grass of a home on the lake with a dozen or so Canada Geese with which it was associating. As this is most likely a wild bird and not used to people, it tended to be quite wary of its surroundings, so we didn’t attempt to move closer. I was able to grab 56 shots of it, some of which are actually acceptable. Even with the zoom lens at 400mm, the goose took up only about 10 percent of the width of the frame. Oh, to have been much closer or to have had an 800mm lens. (Hey, I’m not allowed to dream?) At any rate, the bird was confirmed visually AND photographically. Another life bird! It’s several thousand miles from it’s normal winter range and I got it! Well, so did many dozens of others so far. For some of us, who knows when we’ll have the opportunity to see this species again. For all of us who have seen it and for those who will see it before it departs for places north and unknown, this is our rare piece of glass, the stamp, coin or sewing thimble we been searching for. And it was well worth the chase. 

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The Pink-footed Goose is typically a bit smaller than the average Canada Goose. Its length is a bit smaller but its girth is definitely narrower, and it sits lower in the water.  
 
Oh, and a little bonus was a Muscovy Duck. This could well be an escaped bird with most of the typical field marks, and very interesting for New Jersey. A nice iridescent extra, gleaming beautifully in the sun for us. 

And to think this is just an hour away…in New Jersey.

Rich

This column also appears regularly in Mr. Wolfert's blog, Nature Notes...a Lifelong Journey. Did you like today’s entry, and would you like to see more like it? If so please SUBSCRIBE to this blog and RECOMMEND it for Facebook.

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