Friday, October 16, 2015

MA - four goose afternoon

Brant - Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 16th, 2015. A surprise find in late afternoon.
Brants are scarce late fall migrants through our area, usually lone birds just like this one.

After running a few errands, I had a quick drive north through Turner's Falls in late afternoon. After a few minutes of scanning the power canal I soon located a Cackling Goose among 400 or so Canada Geese. Next stop was Unity Park where a Brant was a major but welcome surprise loosely associating with a handful of Canada Geese. On the north side of the river, a Greater White-fronted Goose was again present with a wide scatter of Canada Geese off Riverview Drive in Gill, along with three American Coots. That seemed like a nice haul of birds after an eerily quiet morning in which very little could be found, though I did see two different high-flying Northern Harriers over the power canal where a Cackling Goose (same as above) dropped in around 11am and apparently remained for most of the day. 


 Cackling Goose (rear) - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. October 16th, 2015. 


Cackling Goose (lowest bird) - arriving at Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. October 16th, 2015.


Greater White-fronted Goose - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. October 16th, 2015.
Looks like the long staying, continuing bird.


Northern Harrier - in migration, high over Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. October 16th, 2015.
The second of two individuals this morning, about 35 minutes between birds. 

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