Its been a gloomy week in northern Maine but I saw a couple unusual waterfowl which were fun to think about during these long nights.
-- On Tuesday, there three new Greater White-fronted Geese at the mill pond in down town Limestone.
An adult White-front was preening on shore with about 20 Canada Geese and two juvenile White-fronts were across the pond. I was able to get some pics of these:
These brought the known total of Greater White-fronted Geese in northern Maine this fall to six. Even more interesting than these uncommon geese, were two unusual looking "Canada" Geese that were with the adult bird. (These can be seen just to the left of the adult in the photo). These birds had unusually big tan cheek patches, dark breasts and the black on the necks transitioned gradually into the breast color unlike Canada Geese where the black neck sock ends cleanly at the base of the neck. On closer look I found the birds bills are a pinkish shade and there was some specks of white on the face.
Yesterday I relocated this apparent family group with a very big flock of Canada Geese a couple miles away at Trafton Lake Park in Limestone. The adult White-front was again with these two unusual geese. I was able this time to observe the feet and legs of the mystery geese. These were greenish:https:
No sign of the two Greater White-fronted juvies at Trafton.
After considering the options, it appears pretty likely that these unusual geese are juvenile Greater White-fronted X Canada Geese hybrids. I've posted a bunch of documentation photos in my Flickr photostream if you are a goose geek like me and want to look.
Last Sunday, I saw another apparent hybrid waterfowl: a drake Barrow's X Common Goldeneye in the St. John River near the Acadian Cross overlook in Madawaska. The bird was with more than 100 Common Goldeneyes and the bird flew up and drifted down this section of river a couple times. https://flic.kr/p/B6GjfE The bird had a small bill, a somewhat bean-shaped cheek patch and a long "mane" but sported a lot more white on the back than a typical Barrow's male.
Other birdy notables this week include a very late Black-and-White Warbler reported in a yard in Chapman, hundreds of Common Redpolls, a late Merlin in Caribou and a first cycle Iceland Gull at Collins Pond in Caribou. Usually rare in northern Maine, Northern Cardinals are apparently showing at a number of local feeders.
Good Birding
Bill
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