Bird of the Day

Geese

December 6, 2018

Clallam County is host to six species of geese. Historically, Brant have been the most prevalent on the annual Christmas Bird Count, averaging 1,528 geese counted from 1980-2015. Canada Geese come in a distant second at 576 average per year. During that same time frame, Cackling Geese have averaged only 22 per year. Last year there were a whopping 388 cacklers counted. Greater White-fronted Geese show up in small numbers every year, as do the less common Snow Goose and the rare Emperor Goose.

We've enjoyed spectacular views of a large flock of Cackling Geese this week, as well as a few dozen Snow Geese. These are greater numbers for both species than I've seen here in Clallam County since moving here eleven years ago. If they hang around another ten days we will record record numbers of both species for the 2018 Christmas Bird Count. Shortly after sunrise this morning the geese started arriving in stages, but they would touch down in the pasture then quickly take off again, soaring around a couple times then heading back the way they came. I'm used to seeing large flocks of starlings and shorebirds change directions all at the same time and fly close together, but I've never seen large birds bunch up so close like these do. There is obviously more separation between the geese than it appears in this photo. Today I learned that the term for a flock of geese flying close together like this is a plump of geese.

A plump of Cackling Geese, Dungeness Bay, WA. 12/6/2018

None of the geese stayed in the pasture this morning, and we decided maybe the sub-freezing temperature last night froze all the standing water in the pasture and the geese didn't like that. I took a closer look in the mid-afternoon as I drove by the pasture and didn't see a single goose. I then found about 50 in a field farther east, at Anderson and Clark Roads. The Snow Geese were with the cacklers, and there were a dozen or more Greater White-fronted Geese mixed in. The next field east was full of Trumpeter Swans. When we lived in Seattle we had to drive an hour to find Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swans in the Skagit Valley. It is such a treat to just have to drive down the road for three minutes to see them here.

Below are some pictures of the various geese found locally.