tags: Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons, photographed at Tom Bass Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 11 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
tags: Ross's Goose, Chen rossii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ross's Goose, Chen rossii, photographed at Tom Bass Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 11 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ…
tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird #1] Ring-necked Duck, Aythya collaris, photographed at the Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 18 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with…
tags: Redhead, Pochard, Raft Duck, Red-headed Raft Duck, Aytha americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Redhead, also known by a slew of other names, including Pochard, Raft Duck and Red-headed Raft Duck, Aytha americana, photographed in Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will…
tags: Cooper's Hawk, Chicken Hawk, Blue Darter, Accipiter cooperii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, Cooper's Hawk, also known as a Chicken Hawk or Blue Darter (?!), Accipiter cooperii, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify…
The extensive white from the lower belly to the vent, the orange legs and the barring on the breast all point to Greater White-fronted Goose.
There are three geese with orange legs which could occur,
Greylag- unlikely unless it's feral in Texas parks.
Bean Goose- again unlikely as very rare in USA.
So that leaves Whitefront seems to be the one, white extends further forward than Greylag and Bean, there appears to be some restricted black barring on the belly probably indicating an immature bird.
I can't contribute to the id but people may like to notice the way the lower part of the wing tucks into a formation of feathers spraying up from below. I don't know what this is called but birds that frequently land on the water tend to have it. Albatrosses do. I recently learned that herons can swim, but they in fact don't tuck their wings in at the bottom as more habitual swimmers do.
DUCK! I WIN BITCHES!
I've heard of running around like a headless chicken - I guess that's what the goose is doing. Why cut off the head though - does it have some more obvious identifying characteristics?
Geese are also migratory so I wouldn't rule out any species based on maps. Even though I'm not a bird perver, even I can see that many maps are way off - I don't know if that's just an issue of resources (who gets to report what and when the surveys are done) or if bird populations just move around fairly quickly so maps are obsolete as they're published.
Bit of an error here -- this isn't Anser erythropus. A. erythropus is the Lesser White-fronted Goose, a very rare vagrant to the outer Aleutians, I believe. (And none too common in it's normal range, if I recall.
This is A. albifrons, the Greater White-fronted Goose.
MadScientist, This bird has a diagnostic white "blaze" extending from the bill over the forehead and once Lesser Whitefront has been eliminated, as the white is less extensive, ID is straightforward. The migration routes of the majority of any bird population are fairly well documented over many years so it is only vagrants that turn up in unusual locations.
oops. thanks for the correction.