With the arrival of March comes the first real pulse of migrant waterfowl and the first few days have been great with geese of various species figuring prominently (plus the continued Trumpeter Swan). I heard of a Pink footed Goose at the Coolidge Bridge on Sunday afternoon but I didn't try for it until Monday on my way to work. Thankfully it was still there and actually showing quite well despite the bitter cold temps. It was one of only a handful of active geese with the rest tucked in most of the time. I also had a Cackling Goose in among the Canada Geese that popped its head up briefly thanks to a pair of very vocal Peregrine Falcons in the area. I then continued on to work and had another extremely busy day (I really cannot wait for retirement!). Very cool how Pink footed Goose has become more common since I found the first county record back in March 2014.
After work on Tuesday I headed out to try to find some more unusual geese with my main target being a pair of Greater White fronted Geese seen at Mount Holyoke College the day before. I got a text from Mary that she tried for them at the location earlier and they were not present so I decided to stop at the open water below the Coolidge Bridge once again. There were several hundred Canada Geese in the water and much more active then the previous morning. A scan through the flock turned up a single Cackling Goose as well as a uniquely plumaged Canada Geese that had a pale body with a typical looking head and neck...cool looking bird. I then decided to head south with the intention of trying to find the Greater White fronted Geese (spoiler alert...I never found them). I stopped off at Mitch's Way with the intention of possibly walking the road (depending on the ice conditions on the road). As I pulled in I saw hundreds of geese in flight so immediately started scanning the birds moving upriver and had a group of nine Snow Geese (with one blue morph) plus a couple other Snow Geese in among the Canada Geese with one looking smaller (possibly a Ross's Goose). I lost track of the small goose but was able to watch the group of nine with views through the scope and binoculars. They never settled down and continued off to the north. I then decided to head back north to check the hordes of geese. I decided to check East Hadley Road and found hundreds of geese with more arriving over the course of the hour I remained on site. Lots of scanning turned up a (the) Pink footed Goose, the pale bodied Canada Goose and a Cackling Goose among 1200+ Canada Geese. There were loads of Red winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Brown headed Cowbirds and European Starlings as well as a very early Wilson's Snipe that was scared up by some arriving Canada Geese. Although I missed on finding any Greater White fronted Geese I was happy to have a four goose species morning. Spring is certainly starting to show itself, finally.
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