Pink-footed Goose - the only Goose in town

I swear it was pure coincidence that I had a semi-free day away from a prolonged stretch of environmental monitoring of lichen deep in the Hell Woods of the Avalon Peninsula. It coincided with Lisa de Leon finding Newfoundland's 2nd autumn record of Pink-footed Goose in the Goulds on 19 Nov. It was feeding among crows in a short grass agricultural field. Others had looked for it without success on 19 Nov.  I lucked into it right away near noon on 20 Nov.  My car had not come to a complete stop at the top of Cox's Lane when through the open window I heard a goose and soon located it flying high over a field.  It went down out by highway 10.  I drove back to the highway and found it feeding in a field among crows, rock doves and a few ducks.

 

It fed among a close knit group of crows and a busy flock of Rock Dove. With no other geese to associate with it found a way to blend in with the crows.  It was surprisingly inconspicuous as it fed on something in the field that was also of interest to crows, rock doves, starlings and a few Black Ducks.

From afar the Pink-footed Goose was anything but conspicuous among the crow roaming the same  field.



Using 700 mm of camera power plus cropping and you get to see what the Pink-footed Goose looked like close up.

According to memory this was the 9th Pink-footed Goose known to have occured in Newfoundland but only the second in fall.