Cackling Goose, more

This is the year for Cackling Geese in New England. These small geese mainly breed in AK and arctic areas and winter in a few places in the west, the lower central part of the country and TX. They are very uncommon in New England. On Sunday we went to see a group of seven that have been hanging out together, in with a large number of Canada Geese, in farm fields in Ipswich, MA. See the three smaller birds above, much smaller than the Canada Geese.

It seems that one cackling Goose was seen first, then on Fri. 11/6 six more joined it. Seems they all spend the night at Stage Island pool on Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island, MA, then fly out early to go feed in the fields in Ipswich.

We saw them quite distant in the fields but were fairly easy to pick out because of their small size next to the larger Canada Geese. They were mostly feeding with their heads down, making digiscoping difficult. They were too far for my Canon SLR digital camera and 500 mm lens.

There really were seven, here seen together. They stayed close, but not always right next to one another. There are four subspecies of Cackling Geese and some of this is still being worked out, see my blog post here. If you find more Cackling Geese outside their normal range, let us know, and send photos, if you have them. They're really interesting little geese and fun to see.

Black-headed Gull

Went to see the Black-headed Gull in Gloucester, MA yesterday and lucked out; it was there. Here are some digiscoped photos. It's mainly found in Eurasia. A few breed in Newfoundland and they're common there in winter. They are uncommonly found here in the Northeast in winter. So it's exciting to see one.

The red bill (with some dark on the tip) on this bird really stood out. Note the red legs. This adult bird is in winter plumage, so it does not have the dark hood of breeding.

Here it is with some Mallards.

There were some Bonaparte's Gulls, (the front five, the back two are Ring-billed Gulls) out in the water. Bonaparte's look similar to the Black-headed Gull but are smaller and have dark bills. Black-headed Gulls are know to hang out with Bonaparte's, so look closely through any Bonaparte's you see for a larger gull with a longer, slightly down-curved reddish bill.

Cackling Goose from every angle

Today we went to see the Cackling Goose on the Turner's Falls power canal in Turner's Falls, in western MA., first found by James Smith on Nov. 5th. Cackling Goose is a species that was split from Canada Goose in 2004. I got lots of photos from every angle. Had to look through more than 700 plus Canada Goose to find this smaller goose. There are 4 subspecies of Cackling Goose. This one is called the Richardson's Cackling Goose, (Branta canadansis hutchinsii) the subspecies most likey to show up in the Northeast. At the end of this blog post, we summarize the information on the various subspecies.

Aside from it's smaller size, the head and bill shape stand out. The head has a flattened boxy look and the bill is a little less than half the length of the head. Note also the pale breast and the pale fringes to the wing covert feathers, making pale scalloped stripes on the sides. The white in the cheek patch of this bird was slightly dusky. Note there is no white collar at the base of the black neck color on this bird. Hutchinsii subspecies of Cackling Goose can sometimes show a thin white collar, but seldom do.

Note the slightly paler back color compared to this Canada Goose. Here you can see the size comparison and the comparitively longer bill on the Canada Goose.

From the back it was clearly smaller than the Canada Goose and looked thinner from the rear than the Canada.
Something in the sky made it look up. Here you can see that the underneath of the chin is all white. There is no black gular stripe running from bill to neck; the taverneri, leucopareia, and sometimes minima subspecies have gular stripes.

Here's another view of the chin, showing no center black gular stripe.

Here's another size comparison, again showing paler color of the Cackling Goose compared to the Canada Goose on the right.

Here's another size comparison. Note the Canada Goose's head also looks a bit flattened on top, but it has a much larger bill. When scanning through a big flock of Canadas to find the Cackling, we found it helpful to look at heads and bill lengths.

They're in synchrony here.

View from the back.

The Cackling is the smaller goose on the right. In this photo it's head looks very flat, with a steep angle from bill to crown, almost looking like it has a bump on the forehead. It really struck us how this goose could look rather different, depending on the angle it was viewed from.

Here's a "where's Waldo" photo. Even though the Cackling Goose was smaller than any of the Canada Goose there, it was not always easy to spot it. We had to look closely through the Canada Goose flock with a scope. Canada Geese can vary among themselves due to age and sex and nutrition. Male Canadas can be almost 50% larger than females.

Many of the geese took baths and stretched. Here's the Cackling doing stretching movements,

Looks like angel wings here.


Here's a digiscoped photo showing the geese line-up with the Cackling Goose in the front.

Another size comparison with the Cackling Goose in the middle. Canadas can look quite different in size just because of their distance and body angle.

Here's the Cackling Goose on the right in an alert posture with its neck stretched up. Cackling Goose is often said to have a a short neck, but clearly it can elongate the neck making it look much longer. The neck looks thinner compared to the Canada's.

Here's another view of the Cackling Goose on the left and nearest us, Canada Goose on the right. The Cackling's neck, which is extended, almost looks as long as the Canada Goose's neck which is not extended.

Can you find the Cackling Goose? This is good practice so next time you see some Canada Geese, look through them and see if you can find a Cackling Goose. Cackling Geese are rare in New England, but this year there are already a handfull or more of sightings.

I was using a Canon Mark II camera with a Canon 500 mm lens with a 2x teleconverter. Still I wish the geese were closer.

A small portion of the hundreds of geese we had to look through to find the Cackling.

Here is a brief summary of some information on the subspecies of Cackling Goose. Ratios for bill and head mentioned are just guidelines, since individuals can vary considerably.

There are 4 subspecies in North America of Cackling Geese. From largest to smallest:

taverneri subspecies summers in north to northeast AK; winters in Columbia River Valley, OR and WA to Central Valley, CA. It is called “Taverner’s Goose”; weight is 6 lb. It's the largest subspecies; head blocky but rounded; bill length to depth at base is about 3:2; bill length is 1/2 head length. Breast and back slightly darker than hutchinsii and B.c. parvipes; rarely has a white collar; most have a thin gular stripe (a dark line under the chin which separates the two white cheek patches).

hutchinsii subspecies summers in coastal Nunavut; winters in eastern NM to northern TX and south, also on the Gulf Coast of TX and w. LA. It is called “Richardson’s Goose”; weight is 5 lb. Medium-sized; head blocky with a steep forehead that angles to a flat crown that angles to the nape; bill length to depth at base is about 3:2; bill length just less than 1/2 head length. Pale-bodied with contrastingly paler buffy breast; fairly wide pale fringes to wing coverts and scapulars; seldom a white collar; no gular stripe.

leucopareia subspecies summers in western Aleutian Islands; winters in the Central Valley, CA. It is called the “Aleutian Goose”; weight is 4 lb. Small; head a rounded-off square; bill length to depth at base about 4:3; bill length clearly less than 1/2 head length. Breast fairly dark brown; usually a wide white complete collar, widest in front; almost always a gular stripe.

minima subspecies summers in northwest AK; winters in Willamette Valley, OR to Central Valley, CA. It is called Ridgway's Cackling Goose. Weight is 3 1/2 lb. It is the smallest subspecies; head and crown rounded; bill stubby; bill length to depth at base is 1:1; bill length about 1/3 head length. It's also the darkest subspecies; breast dark brown, sometimes with rusty or purplish tones; full, partial, or no gular stripe; most have no white collar.

The identification of the Cackling Goose subspecies is still being worked out. It may be impossible to distinguish the smallest subspecies of Canada Goose (B. c. parvipes) from largest subspecies of Cackling Goose (B. h. taverneri) due to variation in size and color within subspecies and size variation due to nutrition and sexual dimorphism (males average 8-12% larger in these subspecies), although bill characteristics are still useful.

Feeder Friday, Where Are The Birds, Really??

Hairy Woodpecker, female at hulled sunflower.

We plan on devoting Fridays to blogging about bird feeders since that is where the majority of people who look at birds have their interest. The big thing on many people's minds right now is concern about where all the birds went. They are seeing way fewer birds at their feeders, including us.
Don't panic, there has been no major drop in feeder bird populations that we're aware of. This is an unusual year because there is SO MUCH wild food available, certainly here in New England. It's a bumper year for pine cones, also spruce and hemlock. Our Crab Apples are heavy with apples, which the robins are stripping off fast. The fields are full of weed seeds. So chickadees and others like titmice, nuthatches, etc. just don't need to come to feeders, there's food everywhere for them. We have Hairy Woodpeckers coming and some Blue Jays. Juncos and White-throated Sparrows have been here in numbers. We provided a big brush pile with millet sprinkled in front and these birds loved it. But most are migrating and will not stay here for the winter.
Mass. Audubon Society has gotten so many calls this fall about where are the birds, that they have a response on their website here.
Be patient, when much colder weather sets in, snow and ice come, and the wild food is more eaten, the birds will be back to your feeders. So keep feeders stocked and out now, just to remind them you're here and waiting.

White-rumped Sandpiper

We visited the NH coast recently and I photographed these White-rumped Sandpiper juveniles. It may seem late to see sandpipers, but this Arctic breeding species is still migrating on the coast.

White-rumped Sandpipers have long wings with the wing-tips extending beyond the tail, a helpful ID clue. Baird's Sandpipers also have wings extending past the tail, but have a dark-centered rump. The breast and flanks on this White-rumped Sandpiper are streaked and it has a medium length, slightly down-curved bill and broad white eyebrow streak.

Another clue mentioned for White-rumped is the pale orange-brown base to lower mandible, visible in this bird, but not on all the birds we saw.

Here's another angle showing the bird poking in the seaweed for food. The long wings give this species an elongated look. You can see the white tips to the wing covert feathers. The white edges on the rusty back feathers, form lines on the upper back. The white feather edges and rusty coloring on back and head are a sign of a juvenile. The adult White-rumped Sandpiper in winter has a grayish back and wings with dark feather shafts.

Now for the best clue. This very obliging bird started to preen. Here you can see the white rump.

Here's an even better view of the rump.

Here the white rump is visible and so are the white lines on the back. We wish these White-rumped Sandpipers good luck on their long journey to South America.

River of Blackbirds, NH

(click to enlage image)

Last night we went to see the river of blackbirds, a stream of estimated 360,000 plus Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds going to roost at dusk. We viewed them from the Target parking lot on Rt. 33 near the Greenland, Portsmouth town line.

Starting about 4 pm, the river began,

And flowed, sometimes directly over our head.

Here are a few grackles right above us, most were about 200-400 feet above us.

There's no way to capture the density, and the constant sound of blackbird call notes.

Seeing the Target sign gives some sense of proportion and density of the blackbirds.

The pepperflakes above Don's head were the blackbirds.

What a phenomena!! We stood there for about an hour watching this amazing black river flow above our heads. We estimated they were going by at a rate of about 5-6,000 birds a minute. Several other birders were there, and several cars stopped and asked us what was that. Gave us an opportunity to educate.
Just the sheer magnitute was overwhelming and awe-inspiring. That may be the most number of birds we have seen at any one time. We have seen large Crow roosts in New England, but not in these numbers.
These birds were all going to roost for the night in the nearby great bog area of tall grasses. There are many theories about roosts, such as birds do it for safety in numbers from predators, or they do it because some birds may have the opportunity to follow well-fed birds to prime food sources the next day. But more research is needed into the full extent of why this occurs.

Snow Buntings in Flight

Snow Buntings in flight

On a visit last week to the NH coast at Hampton Beach State Park, I photographed these Snow Buntings — my best so far, flight photos of this species. What dramatic plumage they have in flight, with the black-and-white on their wings and tail. I was down low for these photos, either lying down on my belly, or sitting up, keeping a low profile so as not to disturb the birds. There was a Peregrine Falcon in the area which flew over and the flock exploded, swishing right by me and I could hear their wings. A magic moment.

Made me think about what it might be like to be a member of this flock. There's safety in numbers. The bold pattern of the wings may help flock members keep close visual contact in flight. Interestingly, when the birds land and fold their wings, the buffy, brownish body plumage makes them rather camouflaged against the brown grass, another help with predator avoidance.
Snow Buntings breed in the far north on tundra and rocky slopes. They winter across much of the upper one-third of the U.S, and southern Canada on weedy fields and shores. In summer, the buffy feather edges wear off, revealing the breeding plumage which is more black-and -white especially in males.