Greater White-fronted Goose near Bath ~ October 30, 2023

Being at the right place at the right time matters a lot when birding. That would be the case twice today. A Greater White-fronted Goose had been found at the Silver Crest Road pond on Saturday, so I decided to drive over and look for it. The first "right place, right time" incident was on the drive over there. I was on Greenwood Avenue and pulled up to the stop sign at the top of the hill at John Street. That's when I noticed a rounded "V" of geese flying past me headed east, but these weren't Canadas. They had shorter necks and the wingbeats were a lot faster. I grabbed my binoculars off the seat and got on the birds. It was a flock of 27 Brant! At that point, a car was behind me, of course, and there was nowhere to easily pull off to the side. By the time, I got to a spot where I could, the birds were so far off that no worthwhile photos could be obtained.

When I got to the Silver Crest Road pond, it was nearly empty. There were only about a hundred Canada Geese and 5 Ruddy Ducks there. So, I headed down to the Regency ponds. There, I found many more Canada Geese and among them were a Northern Pintail, 2 Northern Shovelers, 2 American Black Ducks, and a Ruddy Duck.

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Ruddy Duck

From there, I headed for Seiple's farm pond and stopped along Arrowhead Road on the way. On the west side of Arrowhead, a good-sized flock of roughly 175 Horned Larks were flying around and eventually disappeared into the corn-stubbled field.

Seiple's farm pond was a bust, so I headed back towards Silver Crest Road. That's when the second "right place, right time" event occurred. Thousands of Canada Geese were now in the air and a lot of them were headed towards Silver Crest. As I parked there, I saw Megan Davis scanning the pond. She had just found the Greater White-fronted Goose in among the Canadas. I got these long-distance photos of the bird in the light rain.

Greater White-fronted Goose

Also present were the 5 Ruddy Ducks, a Pectoral Sandpiper, and 2 Common Ravens that were being harassed by American Crows.

I had some daylight left, so I drove over to the Nazareth Quarry. There, among about 6000 Canada Geese were 17 Ring-necked Ducks, 11 Ruddy Ducks, 4 American Black Ducks, and an American Coot. Two Ruby-crowned Kinglets were in the nearby brush with a Carolina Wren, a Dark-eyed Junco, and a group of White-throated Sparrows.

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