We were like a couple of firefighters this morning ready to go as soon as the alarm went off. Shari was going into the city this afternoon but she was completely packed last night. Around 10:30 the email alert came clanging in on Jerseybirds and we jumped in the car with Googled directions to a soccer field in Toms River. Arriving about 20 minutes later we found a flock of Canada Geese and with the help of a couple of birders we knew, we quickly found the Pink-footed Goose we had chased and missed yesterday. It was great to see it walking on a field instead of swimming because we were able to view its eponymously named feet--pink as Bazooka bubble gum. A small brown goose, it is easily lost among the larger Canada Geese in water, but on land, if you look beneath the goose bellies you can often find it just by searching for the brightly colored legs.
We saw it just in time; while eating lunch about an hour later Shari saw a message that the goose had disappeared from the field only to wind up back in the pond in the Seacourt Mall where it was originally found yesterday. Birds have wings; they move around.
It has been quite a week in Ocean County for North Atlantic rarities; the lapwings are still in New Egypt, despite the fields starting to freeze. A cold snap is expected to kick in tomorrow. It will be amazing if they persist through it.
No comments:
Post a Comment