For more information about the origin and rarity of this Greater White-fronted Goose currently in Biscay Bay, NL, please visit The Bruce Mactavish Birding Blog or BirdtheRock Blog by Jared Clarke. Both are linked on the right side of this page under Blog List.
With a quick decision on Friday morning, I decided to make the two-hour drive to Biscay Bay in the hopes of seeing yet another new bird. The day was overcast and on the whole drive down, I had this nagging worry that the dark skies might be a bad omen. Maybe the bird would be gone. That is always a concern when travelling some distance to see one specific bird: Will it be there? Flown off into another area? Gone for good?
It is a build-in risk when birding. There are no guarantees! I am sure I let out an audible sigh of relief when we rounded the last bend to find the Greater White-fronted Goose contentedly working the field.
The goose looked very healthy and quite alert. Margie M. and I watched it for about 30 minutes and drew some conclusions. Like most tourists to Newfoundland, this goose was settling in. It didn't seem to be at all disturbed by passing cars. We watched as several other cars pulled off the road to get a better look at the goose.
Oddly enough, the goose seemed to react differently to different cars. Has this bird got a preference for colors? It appeared to be very comfortable with black. In no time, it perked up and actually walked toward the car, shortening the distance between us.
It came closer and closer.
It even seemed comfortable enough to settle down in the grass for a snack while we looked on.
While the White-fronted Goose was ever-vigilant, it didn't seem distracted from its mission to eat plenty and seemingly pick at the gravel in the field.
During our observation, it moved across a wide area of the field, stopping every now and again to check to see if we were still watching.
When other cars would pull over, it would stop, look and listen, and then settled back to graze the field.
Checking out all sides and not demonstrating any behaviour suggesting it felt threatened, it would go on about its business.
However, as we were leaving, I'm sure I saw it do a little Happy Dance!
For more information about the origin and rarity of this Greater White-fronted Goose currently in Biscay Bay, NL, please visit The Bruce Mactavish Birding Blog or BirdtheRock Blog by Jared Clarke. Both are linked on the right side of this page under Blog List.
With a quick decision on Friday morning, I decided to make the two-hour drive to Biscay Bay in the hopes of seeing yet another new bird. The day was overcast and on the whole drive down, I had this nagging worry that the dark skies might be a bad omen. Maybe the bird would be gone. That is always a concern when travelling some distance to see one specific bird: Will it be there? Flown off into another area? Gone for good?
It is a build-in risk when birding. There are no guarantees! I am sure I let out an audible sigh of relief when we rounded the last bend to find the Greater White-fronted Goose contentedly working the field.
The goose looked very healthy and quite alert. Margie M. and I watched it for about 30 minutes and drew some conclusions. Like most tourists to Newfoundland, this goose was settling in. It didn't seem to be at all disturbed by passing cars. We watched as several other cars pulled off the road to get a better look at the goose. 
Oddly enough, the goose seemed to react differently to different cars. Has this bird got a preference for colors? It appeared to be very comfortable with black. In no time, it perked up and actually walked toward the car, shortening the distance between us.
It came closer and closer.
It even seemed comfortable enough to settle down in the grass for a snack while we looked on.
While the White-fronted Goose was ever-vigilant, it didn't seem distracted from its mission to eat plenty and seemingly pick at the gravel in the field.
During our observation, it moved across a wide area of the field, stopping every now and again to check to see if we were still watching.
When other cars would pull over, it would stop, look and listen, and then settled back to graze the field.
Checking out all sides and not demonstrating any behaviour suggesting it felt threatened, it would go on about its business.
However, as we were leaving, I'm sure I saw it do a little Happy Dance!
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