It's not the first time that a rare goose has graced the Turner's Falls power canal during Thanksgiving week. Though it seems quite fresh in my memory, it turns out that the 'Thanksgiving' Pink-footed Goose at Turner's Falls is already five years old! While I wasn't exactly expecting a repeat performance this year, I can admit to being delighted when I learned of a Barnacle Goose at the power canal via the ABA Rare Bird Alert. The bird was found amid a thousand Canada Geese by Sue and Edward Lewis on Nov 23rd and, fortunately for me, I found a mid-morning slot between errands to go and check out the canal on Nov 24th. Despite being a small, attractive and distinctively marked species, finding the bird among 1500 Canada Geese proved to be no easy task. When I eventually did locate it, it would often 'vaporize' amid the masses though the subsequent searches for it did reveal two Cackling Geese. But, minor grumbles about the glare and contrast aside, I really enjoyed watching this little beauty, a fine adult and actually my first at Turner's Falls. Gracious thanks to the finders Sue and Edward.
Over the years I've been fortunate enough to have quite a lot of success with Barnacle Geese in New England and have seen them in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as several in Massachusetts.
The rest of the day was made up of incidental but noteworthy sightings; 15 Common Redpolls over North Cross Road, Gill, a migrating Red-shouldered Hawk high over the Turner's Falls power canal and a White-winged Crossbill over the Eaglebrook bike trails in Deerfield where I also chanced upon an especially personable Barred Owl that simply watched me fumble with my iphone while I tried to get a shot!
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