Sometimes when a bird is described as "distant" I think, yeah, what they really mean is they can't get frame filling photos, but it's still going to be a decent scope view. Very often this holds true, but when we talk about "distant" at Banks Marsh, believe me, we mean "distant". In places the geese can be nearly 3km distant, though usually most are between 1 - 1.5km. They're often also feeding in amongst long grass so that the best you can hope for is a view of their heads when they stand alert as some perceived danger approaches. Add to that the difficulties that the weather can present and the relative lack of observer coverage on week days and it's little wonder that birds such as the Todd's Canada and Richardson's cackling goose can go missing for a couple of weeks. Today I spent from 9:15 to 14:00 at Banks and in that time I was the only birder north of Old Hollow farm.
However, I did manage to find the Todd's Canada goose with a couple of thousand pink-foots during one of my excursions south of Old Hollow. The bird was with about 1000 pink-feet at a distance of about 1.2km (about three quarters of a mile). Fortunately it's a really distinctive bird, unmistakable being very dark and nothing like the feral Canada's. It's also worth noting that it never associates with the other Canadas, it's always with the pink-footed geese. Also with the flock about 12 barnacle geese.
A slightly better photo of the bird from November.
There were at least three great white egrets on the marsh today, wading in amongst thousands of wigeon. Other birds included marsh harrier and merlin.
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