If it looks like a goose, and flies like a goose ...
It was a perfect storm for a bird mis-identification. When that mini-blizzard hit North Jersey two weeks ago, a friend visited Allendale’s Celery Farm Natural Area and saw a goose species he’d never seen before. Luckily, he photographed the bird before it flew away, and he emailed me the photo. I’d never seen that species either.
We went to the Merlin bird ID app to see what it thought, and back came the answer: a greater whitefronted goose. According to my eBird app, 256 bird species had been seen at the Celery Farm, but this goose wasn’t one of them.
I researched the goose on the allaboutbirds.org website and learned that this creature is “found mainly west of the Mississippi.”
The webpage also had a photo and a description: brownish goose with black splotches on the belly, orange legs white side stripe, and white face patch.
From what we could tell from the photo, everything added up.
Then the lightbulb went off. The snowstorm came from out west. It must have somehow brought the goose with it. Of course! My friend had just recorded the 257th bird species seen at the nature preserve, and the first one in a year and a half.
I rushed to post the news on my nature blog. I posted it on a few Facebook pages. I emailed my local birding group. This was big news.
Or should I say that it was big news until ... it wasn’t. I contacted one of the best birders I know, and he replied: “Sorry to say this looks like a “false” greater white-fronted goose – in other words, a domestic barnyard goose or hybrid. These have tricked many a birder as they look quite similar at first glance.”
And that was the only glance my friend got before photographing the bird through all the falling snow.
Moral of the story: If it looks like a goose and flies like a goose, then it’s a goose – but maybe not the one that an app says it was.
Let’s just say that when it comes to identifying a rare bird and then announcing your find, it’s never good to be too loosey-goosey.
By the way, this year marks the 15th anniversary of The Bird Watcher in The Record – almost 400 columns’ worth. In my first column I wrote: “My goal is to make the column as enjoyable and informative about local birds and birding as I can. For this column to succeed, it needs readers who ask questions, suggest column ideas and flat-out tell me what they want to read about – and what they don’t. So feel free to email me at celeryfarm@gmail.com.” Those words still hold true.