Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Re: Barnacle Goose, 1/16, afloat and ashore

From:

Bob Mumford

Reply-To:

Date:

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:21:08 -0500

I was still an hour away from the Chestertown location when I kindly  
received a text message from Tyler Bell reporting that the bird was on the  
Chester River, visible from the boat ramp.  I arrived at 8:45 and found  nine 
birders eyeing the bird through scopes.  It was a long way  away in shallow 
water next to a fallen snag.  Sometimes it was invisible,  sometimes it popped 
its head up, other times it was possible to see the whole  bird.  There were 
a lot of Canada Geese around, mostly obscuring the  bird.  
 
At about 10 AM the bird flew 100 feet or so upstream to a spot in front of  
a pier.  It swam around here for perhaps fifteen minutes.  At 10:15,  it 
took off .with about ten Canadas, lifted up and flew over the tree  line.  It 
landed in the field to the East of Buckingham Rd, only a quarter  mile (or 
less) from the river.  There were probably close to a hundred  Canadas in the 
field also.
 
Before long, as multiple birders were gazing at the Barnacle vigorously  
feeding in the grass, a pickup truck came to the west, directly towards us and 
I  anticipated some trouble.  All the geese flew.  Turns out this was the  
caretaker of the property and he was a pleasant, mellow fellow who chatted 
with  birders and revealed that the bird has been around for awhile.  He also 
 joked that he could charge admission and several of the birders told him 
that we  would pay!  After chatting for awhile, he went back through the gate 
and  drove away, being careful not to flush the geese again, which, by this 
time had  landed in the same spot.
 
I stayed until about 11 AM.  The birds remained fairly far out, so the  
resulting images, even with my 600mm are not super sharp.  See my Facebook  
page at:
 
 
_http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.281925665199771.66279.100001470182
044&type=3&saved#!/profile.php?id=100001470182044_ 
(http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.281925665199771.66279.100001470182044&type=3&saved#!/profil
e.php?id=100001470182044) 
 
Bob Mumford
Darnestown

 

############################

To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1