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Beware breeding and nesting swans! That’s one of the valuable takeaways from this tragic tale out of Chicago of a man drowned by the very swans he cared for. Also of interest is how Mute Swans are employed to deter Canada Geese. Which would you rather: slovenly geese or homicidal swans? (Hat tip to Meredith!)

At the end of a half-morning’s birding I stopped at the south end of the Cross Bay Bridge, just north of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York. It is a spot known for nearly tame Pale-bellied Brant* and roosting gulls, and once in a while something really good appears. I figured I would pull [...]

On Sunday, the same day that I enjoyed a bunch of winter birds in Sullivan County and Ulster County, I also had a chance encounter with a diminutive goose. It was on the side of the road in a field at Blue Chip Farm, a large horse farm near the town of Wallkill. But it [...]

It has been over two months since the Greater White-fronted Goose was found at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City’s northernmost borough, the Bronx. Andrew Baksh, Birding Dude, has been keeping close tabs on it during his weekly Van Cortlandt Park bird walks since, and I figured it was time that I made a [...]

Colusa National Wildlife Refuge is part of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex in California’s Central Valley. This complex consists of five national wildlife refuges (NWR) and three wildlife management areas (WMA) that comprise over 35,000 acres of wetlands and uplands. There are also two photography blinds on Sacramento NWR, one blind on Colusa NWR, and [...]

Originally found on Saturday, 7 January, by Peter Priolo, the Barnacle Goose in these pictures has been present on Eastport Lake in Eastport, New York, since, though it does fly out to feed in nearby fields from time to time. I *ahem* coincidentally happened to be in the area on the day after it was found and [...]

Every autumn, tens of thousands of Snow Geese arrive in California’s Sacramento Valley following their long journey from the Canadian Arctic (click on photos for full sized images). Waterfowl numbers at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex may exceed two million by December, after the wetland areas of the Klamath Basin and other areas to the north become frozen. Snow and [...]

Anyone thinking that it’s time to slow down needs to think again. The temperatures may not be conducive to shorts and T-shirt but there is still some great early winter birding to be had in Britain right now. The highlight of the early winter period for many over here has been an unusually large influx [...]

After spending the early morning on Saturday birding at Alley Pond Park I was happy with having seen my first Eastern Phoebe of the year and thought I could rest on my laurels for the rest of the weekend.  Then the accursed listserv had to ruin my peace of mind by letting me know that [...]

Now that you’re acquainted with the sublime madness of manky mallards and manky muscovies, perhaps you’re ready to be initiated into the next circle of Domestic Waterfowl Hell: the ganky goose. Most of the world’s domestic geese can be traced back thousands of years to the wild Greylag Goose (Anser anser) although domestic geese were [...]

It turns out that the 400 Canada Geese recently rounded up in Prospect Park and gassed to death are only the tip of the iceberg.  New York State has plans to kill two-thirds of the state’s population of Canada Geese, or 170,000 of the state’s estimated 250,000 geese.

It has been six days now since about 400 Canada Geese that had been living on the lake at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, were rounded up, packed two or three to a crate, trucked away, and gassed to death by the United States Department of Agriculture – all without public notice.  This continues the trend in [...]

Having a borrowed car for a week is much less fun when a blizzard hits and one has to dig said car out of about a foot a snow plus what the plows pile on top.  Daisy knew I was a bit bummed about having a car for a week and only managing to take [...]

Via Kim, The Curious Birder, who posted this great video on Facebook.  If this doesn’t make you laugh or at least grin, well, 10,000 Birds will give you your money back… Have a nice weekend…hope it goes better than the kayaker’s goose encounter did!

This past Wednesday, 11 November, I was in my office in midtown Manhattan when I was dismayed to see an email on the state listserv from Seth Ausabel saying that he had found a Cackling Goose Branta hutchinsii in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens.  Why was I dismayed that a good birder, who 10,000 Birds readers [...]

On the very last day of 2008 I braved the cold, wind, and icy precipitation to get one last bird for my Anti-Global Warming Big Year, and the last bird was a doozy.  The Pink-footed Goose is a vagrant in North America, and should be somewhere in Europe right now.  The one that was first [...]

Though we don’t get the sheer volume of Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) that one might find in more westerly regions of North America we here in New York are often blessed with decently-sized flocks of the marvelous white geese with black wing tips.  They are a welcome departure from the wildly honking Canada Geese and [...]

Up at 4. On the road by 4:45. Dark Adirondacks, cold, long, lonely highway. Dawn. Trees, rock, snow. Exit 39, left on 9, heading north. Geese up and flying west, Snow Geese, several small flocks. Look for left turn, Spellman Road, there, driving west, geese are south. Another turn, south, Moffit Road. Geese in field. [...]

After missing the Greater White-fronted Goose and having a very late night on Friday and sleeping until noon on Saturday it was time to see some birds Saturday afternoon. Daisy and I headed over to Jamaica Bay, the amazing birding hotspot in the south of Queens. We started off with a late lunch of delicious [...]

The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) is the familiar goose of parks and golf courses. In the spring and fall the loud honking of V-shaped migrating flocks overhead often draw the eyes of birders and non-birders alike. Unfortunately, its very ubiquitousness often makes it the target of ire. Canada Goose in a field at Five Rivers [...]