Liz was driving us home from Fonda the other day. As we crossed the river bridge I glanced to the west to see a beautiful necklace of gulls decorating the lawn at the state transportation barn. They were such a lovely gleaming white against the freshly mowed lawns.
A pair of geese about to swim under the bridge caught my eye. I always check even the commonest of wild birds, just in case there is something exotic going on.
I was glad I did. Half of this obviously closely bonded, tandem-swimming, pair of geese was an ordinary Canada goose. The other half was stocky-bodied, bright grey with white markings, and had a distinct and knobby bright orange bill. As far as I could tell, not being familiar with every exotic goose in the world, it was a common, ordinary barnyard goose. It looked like this. It could conceivably have been a greylag goose, as that European breed does occur here on occasion. Or it could have been somebody's pet lured away by the call of the wild.
I don't guess the bonding of wild waterfowl and tame farm birds is at all uncommon, but this was sure a first for me. It was the thrill of the week, bar none.
As always I had the camera with me, but those of you familiar with the bridge know it just isn't a spot where you can take pictures. Maybe later in the week Alan and I will drive over to the transpo barn and see if they are still there.
****PS, Dairy farm blogs are few and far between, so I am always delighted to find a new one. I have been reading a new one for a couple of weeks and I believe it is a keeper. Check out Orange Patch Dairy. I think you will like it.
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6 comments:
Wish I could of seen pictures, but I can visualize! Nice blog, even though I am not a dairy farmer!
Your love of birds has opened my eyes to the beauty they bring to the world.
Thank you so much for this gift!
Linda
htttp://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
I can't say as I've ever seen a mis-match pair of birds but we often see white tail deer and mule deer mate.
Don't wild ducks occasionally mate with barnyard ducks to produce hybrids? Or did I hear wrong?
Is this like the moose that falls in love with a cow? :)
Lisa, Alan saw them again this week, so maybe we can get pics later. I really want to
Linda, thanks for your kind words. I get so much enjoyment from birds...they are everywhere and looking at them is free (although the field guides are a little pricey, lol)
LInda, wow, that is really interesting. I had no idea that that occurred, having only white tails here. I guess it is quite common in birds causing much confusion
Jan, you are entirely correct, there is a whole section in my new field guide dedicated to the hybrids. amazing...
Jean, kinda, lol, except that they can have viable offspring I guess. Still hoping for pics later.
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