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Geese and swans complete our look at wintering waterfowl. Of these the ubiquitous Canada Goose is the most familiar. Living at Lumberton Leas we see and hear their loud honking as large flocks fly over the campus throughout the day and into the evening when they settle down for the night on and around Monarch Lake. The Canada Geese we see are most probably a mix of a year round resident population and wintering migrants that swell their numbers. If you scan a large flock of these geese it is not uncommon to find mixed in with them ducks and other geese species. The most common one to be found in the mixed flock will be the Snow Goose. This goose is an Arctic breeder but does winter in our area taking advantage of the large farm fields and small water bodies for food. It is truly a magnificent sight to see a large skein of these birds in flight with their glistening white bodies and black wing tips. If you are lucky a real out of range goose might show up. One that did is the White Fronted Goose. It takes its name from the white patch at at the base of the bill extending to the front of the forehead. This bird breeds in the tundra of northern Russia with populations as far west as Greenland. During winter it migrates to southern and central Europe and into Iceland. The bird that shows up here is most probably from the western population.
There are two swans in our area. The most familiar is the Mute Swan which we see year round. The Mute Swan is a European import brought to this country as an ornamental for parks and estates. It has established a very successful feral population particularly in the northeast. We see them at Lumberton occasionally in a fly over or on Monarch Lake. However, the real treat is to see a true high Arctic breeder called a Tundra Swan (also known as a Whistling Swan). It is listed as an “occasional” sighting here at Lumberton but it can be seen in significant numbers nearby at Whitesbog off Rt. 70 where it feeds in the flooded cranberry bogs. This bird has a black bill and often a little patch of yellow extending from the eye onto the bill. It also has a straighter neck than the more graceful s-curve of the Mute Swan.
Occasionally, flocks of Canada Geese contain stray birds of unknown origin. They may be escapees from captivity, or may be hybrids between two species of wild geese, or between wild and domestic barnyard geese. Hybrids can resemble their parent species but don’t look quite right for either parent. A recent visitor to Monarch Lake resembled a Snow Goose but was much too large and had a gray back instead of a white back.
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“Avian Life” brought to you by Robert Koch, robert11388@gmail.com