Snow Goose in Prospect Park

At 1:05 this afternoon I saw a post that there was a Snow Goose along the lake shore at Prospect Park and by 1:30 I was hoofing it through the park on my way to "Lamppost 249" where the goose was reported.

It's not that a Snow Goose is such a rare event in New York--we see hundreds of them at Jamaica Bay--but it is pretty unusual for Prospect Park and since I'm an obsessional list keeper the sighting would be a good one for my Prospect Park list. (Checking my records later, I already had a Brooklyn sighting in Green-wood Cemetery.)

But the goose wasn't at "Lamppost 249." So what I hoped would be a quick sighting and a turnaround back home turned into a walk around the lake under lowering skies. I found lots of Canada Geese, swans, ducks, coots, a cormorant, a few gulls, even a Red-tailed Hawk circling over the lake, but the Snow Goose was a no show until I got more than 1/2 way around the lake, and there it was, on the southern shore, contentedly grazing with a flock of Canada Geese.

I forgot my camera in my haste. This is the best shot of a bunch lousy ones off my cell phone. That makes bird # 136 for Prospect Park.

There was nothing else extraordinary in my other sightings, but it was a good mix of birds--sparrows are replacing warblers as the fall progresses.
Prospect Park

Number of species:    35
Snow Goose    1    South side of lake grazing with CAGO
Canada Goose    70
Mute Swan    7
American Black Duck    1
Mallard    75
Northern Shoveler    11
Ruddy Duck    9
Double-crested Cormorant    1
Great Blue Heron    1    Lullwater
Red-tailed Hawk    1    F/O Lake
American Coot    2
Ring-billed Gull    3
Rock Pigeon    30
Mourning Dove    1
Red-bellied Woodpecker    1
Downy Woodpecker    1
Eastern Phoebe    6    Five @ ball field enclosure, 1 on Nethermead. 
Blue Jay    4
Black-capped Chickadee    3
House Wren    1    Back of Upper Pool
Golden-crowned Kinglet    1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    6
Hermit Thrush    1
American Robin    7
Gray Catbird    2
European Starling    5
Yellow-rumped Warbler    2
Northern Waterthrush    1    Muddy enclosure south side of lake
Eastern Towhee    1
Savannah Sparrow    4
Song Sparrow    2
Swamp Sparrow    1
White-throated Sparrow    15
Dark-eyed Junco    6    Ball field enclosure

Northern Cardinal    3