Another Wild Goose Chase

So today saw me undertake another wild goose chase. Today's target bird was a Pink-footed Goose. A goose that is fairly common in Greenland and Great Britain but extremely rare bird in North America. The word on the street (by which I mean blogs, emails and listservs) was that the target bird was hanging out with a huge flock of Canada Geese. So after a few minutes of driving around, we found the flock, a flock that was over 200 Canada Geese large! Well, after standing slack jawed, i picked up my binoculars and got to looking. I must have looked over each goose about 5 times. It getting to know this flock so well that I could tell you who was walking where and who had honked at who. Then, there it was. I figured out that I was with the wrong flock. A couple of birders pointed me to the right flock. When I was with the right flock, I found the pink-footed goose. I'd like to tell there was a moment of revelation or that music and lights shone from the heavens when I found it. No such luck, instead, I found that I could not take my eyes off the bird. I beautiful goose and my first real rarity successfully chased down. A great addition to my life list and to my 2012 Year list! Well, here's to more birding!

Outing #4
Pink Footed Goose *LB
Mallard
Northern Mockingbird
Mute Swan

2012 Total 30