Category: Goose

Canada Geese

by Earthwatcher, posted in American River, American River Parkway, Atlanta, Bird Photography, bird watching, birding, Birds, California, Chattahoochee National Recreation Area, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Earthwatcher, Fujifilm Cameras, GA, Geese, Georgia, Goose, nature, Nature Photography, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography

Canada Geese are quite common and often don’t make an eye-catching photo. But when seen in the right environment and living their lives, their beauty is enhanced marvelously.

Photograph of 4 Canada Geese floating along a rive surrounded by low, green, aquatic foliage. The riverbank in the background is slightly out of focus. It is mostly gray-brown dotted by green leaves. The riverbank serves as the background. It is lined with reeds, with green brush and brown grass behind. The Canada Geese are large birds whose back is brown, its breast and bottom are white, its neck and head are black, and it has a white chinstrap.
Island Ford,
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Sandy Springs, Georgia, USA; SEP 2025

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Photograph of 5 Canada Geese standing in a stream, all facing to the left. The riverbank is in the background. There are brown and green reeds along the river edge with various shrubs and grasses behind them. Next to the riverbank, the stream is running smoothly, reflecting the plants along the riverbank. The river under the geese is running over obstructions causing ripples. The Canada Geese are large birds whose back is brown, its breast and bottom are white, its neck and head are black, and it has a white chinstrap.
William B Pond Park,
American River Parkway, Sacramento, California, USA; DEC 2014
Photograph of 4 Canada Geese, two facing left one floating in the stream facing right and the other on the riverbank facing right. The background is brown and green reeds lining the riverbank in front of a gray, fog covered, forest scene. Next to the riverbank, the stream is running smoothly, reflecting the plants along the riverbank. The river under the 2 geese in the front is running over obstructions causing ripples. The Canada Geese are large birds whose back is brown, its breast and bottom are white, its neck and head are black, and it has a white chinstrap.
William B Pond Park,
American River Parkway, Sacramento, California, USA; DEC 2015

A Few Birds from Our Recent Trip

by Earthwatcher, posted in Bird Photography, bird watching, birding, Birds, Earthwatcher, Effie Yeaw Nature Center, Fujifilm Cameras, Goose, nature, Nature Photography, Photography, Sacramento, Uncategorized, USA, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography
Photo of an adult and a juvenile Great Horned Owl at the opening of its hillside nesting cave. The hillside is a sedimentary mix of mud and ovoid river rocks. The background color isa sandy beige. The rocks are a mix of grays and browns. In the lower right corner is green foliage with yellow flowers – California Golden Poppies. There is some other green foliage dotting the hillside. The 2 owls are standing side by side at the entrance to their cave. The adult is the larger bird standing on the left, the juvenile is the small gray bird with gay beak standing on the right. Both birds are facing front with their head bent down, partially obscuring their eyes. The adult’s breast is mostly white, but orange in some areas, all with gray horizontal stripes. The top of the adult’s head is triangular patch with the point at the top of the beak. The patch is gray, outlined by a white stripe and further by a gray stripe. Its face is gray, outlined by a black stripe that makes it almost heart shaped. Its beak is gray.
Nimbus Fish Hatchery,
American River Parkway, Rancho Cordova, California, USA; APR 2023

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Photo of a Snowy Egret perched on a fallen tree in a pond. The fallen tree is two large main branches projecting from the water in the lower left of the picture. They project upward, across the picture toward the right at about a 30-degree angle. There are supporting branches on each of the main branches that project back into the water in the lower right quarter of the picture. The branches are dark gray, streaked with light gray on the top by the sunlight. The water is green in the lower third of the picture then changing to a greenish gray as it progresses to the opposite side of the pond. The bird is in the upper right quadrant of the picture. It is bright white with a black beak, black legs and yellow feet. Its eye is a small black dot where the beak meets the head. There is a small yellow patch on the end of the beak at the eye. There are many smaller branches in the water around the fallen tree. The river bank on the opposite site is out of focus river rocks capped with out of focus brush.
Snowy Egret;
Effie Yeaw Nature Center, Sacramento, California, USA; MAR 2023
Photo of a Snowy Egret perched on a fallen tree in a pond. The fallen tree appears as several medium gray to light gray, twisted, large branches. They appear to project from the lower right corner of the picture, curving upward; one into the middle, the other to left side. The bird is perched on one leg, on one of the branches, in the middle, vertically and one third of the way from the right side of the picture. The bird is white. It has a black beak and leg with a yellow foot. Its feathers are fluffed from the wind. Its eye is a tiny black dot at the base of the beak. There is a yellow patch on the base of the beak and around the eye. The background is the pond. The water is green in the lower third of the picture. It is mostly blue with greenish brown streaks in the rest of the picture.
Snowy Egret;
Effie Yeaw Nature Center, Sacramento, California, USA; MAR 2023
Photo of a Black Oystercatcher standing on a rock along the water’s edge. On the left side of the image is a triangular shaped, granular looking rock, sandy brown on type grading to dark gray. Across the bottom of the image, is a flat-topped rock which is light beige on the left and golden brown on the right. The water in the background is blue with some brown, shimmering rocks just below the water’s surface. The bird is standing upright atop the flat top rock, facing left. The bird has a black body, pink legs and a red beak. The bird is holding its prey, a black circular object, likely a shellfish, in its beak. Its eye is yellow with a red ring around it.
Black Oystercatcher;
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, California, USA; APR 2023
Photo of a Black Oystercatcher on a rock along the water’s edge. Across the bottom of the image, is a flat-topped rock which is light beige on the left and golden brown on the right. The water in the background is blue with some brown, shimmering rocks just below the water’s surface. The bird is standing hunched over, atop the flat top rock, facing left. The bird has a black body, pink legs and a red beak. The bird is holding its prey, a cream-colored circular object, likely a shellfish, in its beak. The shell from its prey sets just below the beak on the rock. Its eye is yellow with a red ring around it.
Black Oystercatcher;
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, California, USA; APR 2023
Photo of a Canada Goose on its nest which is on a hillside. The hill side is a dark, sandy beige color. The upper third is rock, the lower two thirds is dried mud. The dried mud is dotted with green foliage and yellow flowers. The bird has a black head, neck and bill. There is a small white patch on the right side of its head. Its breast and under parts are white. Its wing feathers are brown. The wing feathers are folded and extend to the length of its body making a “V” between the wings and underbody.
Canada Goose on Nest;
Nimbus Fish Hatchery, American River Parkway, Rancho Cordova, California, USA; APR 2023

Please visit my website, www.earthwatcher.us to see my collection of landscapes and wildlife.

These and other images are available to purchase by contacting larry.klink@earthwatcher.us.

If anyone would like a copy of almost any picture in my library, for educational or research use, please contact me and I will happily share a digital copy with you.

Wild White Geese

by Earthwatcher, posted in Bird Photography, bird watching, birding, Birds, California, Colusa National Wildlife Reserve, Earthwatcher, Fujifilm Cameras, Geese, Goose, nature, Nature Photography, Pacific Flyway, Photography, Sacramento National Wildlife Reserve, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography
Snow Geese
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Willows, CA; NOV 2020

The wildlife refuges in Northern California are one of the wintering over spots  for our two varieties of wild white geese: The Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) and the Ross’s Goose (Chen rossii). They are 2 species that look almost alike and hang around together. In fact they do inter-breed so hybridized geese can be found. There is also a darker morph of both species which can sometimes be found in the flock. The darker or “blue morph” of the Snow Goose is sometimes called a Blue Goose. The head of the Ross’s Goose is smaller and more rounded than the that of the Snow Goose. The Ross’s Goose has a gray patch at the base of its bill. The Snow Goose has dark smile lines on the side of its bill that, I think, look like teeth.

It is amazing site to see these birds lift into the air. Entire fields full of geese will take off at one time making it look like a blizzard of white. On the day we observed them we were treated to an air show by many flocks. Thousands of birds were flying in large “V” formations as far as you could see in all directions. It was amazing!

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Ross’s Goose, Northern Shoveler
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Willows, CA; NOV 2020
Snow Geese
Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, DEC 2016
Ross’s Geese
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Willows, CA; NOV 2020

Please visit my website, www.earthwatcher.us to see my collection of landscapes and wildlife.

These and other images are available to purchase by contacting larry.klink@earthwatcher.us.

Cackling Geese

by Earthwatcher, posted in Bird Photography, bird watching, birding, Birds, California, Earthwatcher, Fujifilm Cameras, Geese, Goose, nature, Nature Photography, Pacific Flyway, Uncategorized, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography
Cackling Geese
North Staten Island Road, Thornton, CA; NOV 2020

Living along the Pacific Flyway provides a treat; many birds pass through or winter over around here. Our most well known and popular of the winter visitors is the Sandhill Crane. But, in this post, I am going to present another visitor, one less known, the Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii).

The Cackling Goose and the Canada Goose look nearly identical and they are related. Until recently they were considered 2 subspecies of a single species. The Cackling Goose is smaller and makes a distinctive cackle instead of the Canada Goose’s honk. One of the field marks I use to identify them is a white band at the base of the black neck; its not a perfect identifier but it is very good.

While the Canada Goose is ubiquitous year around, I have only seen the Cackling Geese, reliably, in a limited area and only in Late October and November. One birder told me that we get the Aleutian Subspecies; there are several other subspecies.

Please click on caption to see imaes at higher resolution.

Cackling Geese
North Staten Island Road, Thornton, CA; NOV 2020
Cackling Geese
North Staten Island Road, Thornton, CA; NOV 2020

Please visit my website, www.earthwatcher.us to see my collection of landscapes and wildlife.

These and other images are available to purchase by contacting larry.klink@earthwatcher.us.