This afternoon a small cackling goose was with the greylag flock at Lightshaw
Flash. I reckon it's most likely Richardson's due to a combination of size, colour,
lack of chin stripe and bill shape. Also note the diffuse white collar, very
faint but it is there. Richardson's is classed as part of the Cackling goose
complex and is a separate species to the common feral Canada goose.
I guess it's most likely an escape but interestingly the bird was associating
with greylags rather than the Canada goose flock two fields away, and
obviously occasional wild bean and whitefronts do associate with greylags, so who knows? Also I watch this flock of greylags pretty regularly for this very reason,
just in case a wild goose joins up with them. This is the first time I've seen
this bird and it was not with them yesterday.
In an interesting development this evening, I have been contacted by Stuart
Derbyshire who birds the Ribble Estuary and finds lots of interesting geese
there. It appears that the Lightshaw bird is the same as one which he found at
Longton Marsh on 15th January but which has since gone missing (see photo at
the bottom of this post). Of course this doesn't prove its provenance either way
but it's an interesting movement.
Above is the bird at Lightshaw today, below is the same individual on Longton Marsh on 15th January.
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| Richardson's cackling goose on the Ribble estuary © Stuart Derbyshire |
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