Twelve(!) Greater White-fronted Geese at the Silver Crest Road Pond ~ December 3, 2025

In the morning, Adam Miller sent out a text that he had found 12(!) Greater White-fronted Geese at the Silver Crest Road pond. This impressive number became the most ever seen at one site in Northampton County. I took a ride over there in the afternoon and located all twelve, which was a little difficult since they weren't all together and some were in among the roughly 700 Canada Geese. I got photos of a group of seven and a group of five.

Seven of the 12 Greater White-fronted Geese.

Five of the 12 Greater White-fronted Geese, two of them immatures.

There were at least two immature Greater White-fronteds in with the adults. I got a pretty nice photo of one of them with one of the adults, which shows the lack of white on the face.

An immature Greater White-fronted Goose (left) with an adult.

There was also a group of 7 Cackling Geese there.

Six of the 7 Cackling Geese with the much larger Canada Goose at top left.

Cackling Geese

Here's another comparison photo between a Cackling Goose and a Canada Goose.

A Cackling Goose (left) and a Canada Goose (right).

When I got back home and went through my photos, I came across these two of a White-fronted Goose showing what appeared to be a light eye ring. This is one of the traits of a Lesser White-fronted Goose, which would be a super rarity for the United States, so it was eye-opening, but I was very skeptical that it was one because of the probability. I have never seen one, so I went on the internet to look at photos. The bill on a Lesser is usually much stubbier than what this bird was showing and it is usually more pinkish, although this bill was pink while all of the Greater White-fronteds there showed a more orange color to their bills. Here are the only two distant photos that I got of this bird.

An interesting White-fronted Goose.

The photos are just a bit out of focus. I wasn't sure whether this eye ring was a trick of the lighting or not. It appeared that it could be the sun reflecting the iris, but I just couldn't be sure. Anyway, I let others know just in case it would stick around and more documentation could be obtained.

A Great Blue Heron was also there, and a Common Raven circled overhead at one point.

Great Blue Heron

Common Raven

Five Ruddy Ducks, 2 Hooded Mergansers, and a Common Merganser were also seen there.

I went down the road to the Regency Boulevard ponds. There were only a few Mallards among the many Canada Geese, but an adult female Northern Harrier was seen hunting along the edge of the south pond while I was at the north pond, so I was only able to get these distant photos of it.

An adult female Northern Harrier.

On the way home, I stopped at the Green Pond area. The male Bufflehead continued in the back middle pond with about a hundred Canada Geese, and a Northern Flicker was in the treeline by the golf course. I couldn't find the lingering Killdeer, so it had apparently finally moved on.

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