After a Barnacle Goose was found in Brooklyn yesterday we Queens birders got jealous. Can you blame us? Anyway, you can imagine how my mind leaped immediately to rarities and vagrants this evening when I spotted this bird accompanying Canada Geese on Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in my home borough.
Though I did my best to make it a Pink-footed Goose I could not manage the trick, especially when it finally left the lake and let its dark legs and feet be seen. It’s a good thing that I already have seen one in Queens!
Anyway, weird goose, no? Though you’d think by now I would be used to weird geese hanging out with Canada Geese in Queens.
…
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
Could be a hybrid Pinkfoot x Canada, no?
Juv Blue x Canada? There’s an article in Cassinia that you can search for (volume 50) that looks interesting. I’d link but my work pc is blocked as spam.
Why not juvenile Blue Snow Goose?
Agree with Nick.
Yeah, thought the face pattern was showing a Canada-like shadow but on further review straight Blue looks good.
Folks on the New York Birders Facebook page were moving towards juvenile blue Snow Goose too. I never remember seeing a bird like this before.
Interesting bird and a learning experience.