Greater White Fronted Goose at Duke Island Park

Greater White-fronted Goose, Duke Island Park, NJ, Mar. 18, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

The Greater White-fronted Goose found yesterday, was present again today at Duke Island Park. 1,200 Canada Geese were also feeding at the park, both on the front lawn on Old York Rd. with the Greater White-fronted Goose and inside the park.

Jeff Ellerbusch proposes this is one of the same Greater White-fronted Geese that was at Duke Island Park earlier in the winter based on identical belly markings.

Thousands of Geese in Long Valley

Geese in Long Valley, NJ, Mar. 18, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

(Click on the photo for a larger image.)

Beacon Hill Road in Long Valley (Washington Twp., Morris County) has a farm field which is attractive to waterfowl, especially geese. In 2015, this field is currently a small lake. At 3:00 this afternoon, the lake and surrounding stables and field was inhabited by 2,300+ Snow Geese (conservative count) and 5,000+ Canada Geese (also conservative). A few overwhelmed Northern Pintail, Mallards and a Wood Duck could be seen swimming between the goose mass. A Killdeer’s call was actually heard penetrating the din of goose cacophony.

The photos above and below show a portion of the geese. There were more to the left and right of the picture frame. Hundreds were in the stable area beyond the fencing. It was an impressive sight.

Geese in Long Valley, NJ, Mar. 18, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

At 4:30 PM geese started peeling off in small groups. By 5:00 PM, most of the Snow Geese had left and headed north.

Snow Geese in Long Valley, NJ, Mar. 18, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

A Greater White-fronted Goose was found here one year ago. Scanning through the thousands of geese for two hours today did not turn up any rarities.

Snow Geese in Long Valley, NJ, Mar. 18, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

 Off to the north

Snow Geese in Long Valley, NJ, Mar. 18, 2015 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

eBird Checklists for the mocosocoBirds region may be viewed via eBird’s Region Explorer. Use the following links:

• Morris County
• Somerset County

The eBird Hotspot Primer is here and can also be accessed via the Hotspot menu item on the mocosocoBirds.com website.

@mocosocoBirds at Twitter is another communications stream. Instant field reports and links of interest are tweeted throughout the day. The latest tweets appear on the sidebar of this page. One can follow mocosocoBirds at Twitter or link to @mocosocoBirds.

Finis