Bean Goose (1 Viewer)

Well I'm excited ! Two months ago I found a solitary Barnacle Goose mixed in with the Canadian geese,just on the edge of the 71 acre University Parks in Oxford,in fact in the water-meadows bordering it.Late yesterday I went to the same spot and there were two Bean Geese,positively identified from my books,very distinctive.The gander (I presume) was very active in hissing and spitting at my dog ! Is it unusual to find them inland,indeed like the Barnacle Goose ?
Mervyn.

Bean Geese aren't unusual inland, but I doubt that a genuinely wild Bean Goose would allow you or your dog anywhere near them.

Like the Barnacle before I would suspect that the Bean geese you saw were escapes, although how common they are in collections I don't know.

Still a good find though and excellent ID practice.

Well the geese were being fed bread,hence the close proximity.I think the Sunday afternoon feed the ducks etc., has started ! The RSPB think the Barnacle was from Slimbridge as they do not know of any collections nearer.
Mervyn.

headington7 said:

The RSPB think the Barnacle was from Slimbridge as they do not know of any collections nearer.
Mervyn.

Click to expand...

Hi Mervyn,

More likely from some private collector in the nearby area, who doesn't tell anyone what he has (either for fear of theft, or just not wanting publicity). There's a surprisingly large number of such collections about the country generally. Slimbridge got a lot of bad press over the Ruddy Duck escapes 30-40 years ago, so they are now VERY careful not to let any of their birds escape.

Michael

Hi all,

one should be carefull in assuming that every tame goose in a park is an escape, allthough in general it is quite likely in many cases.
But there are other examples: in the winter 2002/2003 a single Greater white fronted goose (a young bird born 2002, according to the plumage) showed up between the greylag geese on a big lake in one of the parks in Bonn. The first two month we witnessed this bird to be extremly shy and wary, like a wild bird , allthough the greylags it was with; were extremely tame. within the next months its fear of humans in this special area became lower and lower (Probably through the example of the greylags). During the whole summer the bird stayed with the greylags and was as tame as them, sometimes even taking bread from peoples hands as the greylags did. In autum it disappeared; during the time when the greylags fly around a lot more (allthough this population does not really migrate) and even move down the rhine where they come in contact with Greater Whitefronted geese.

as young geese learn the migration route from their parents, I think this was a youngster who got accidentally seperated from his family and his flock, flew up the rhine and found the greylag goose population and decided to stay as those were the only geese in the area. It gained adult plumage during its staying in Bonn and in Summer 2003 everybody who saw it may have thought it had escaped a collection...

Jörn

Thank you Joern and Michael.By the way Oxford is twinned with Bonn !
As a very,very amateur watcher....boy how amateur I am enjoying finding out things from all of you folk !
I live in a strange area,as late at night occasionally deer will appear,as well as other animals.We are almost as far inland as you can get,I know Meridan near Coventry is the most inland,there is a special obelisk there....but with 71 acres in the University Parks,plus water-meadows,on the banks of the Cherwell,the main tributary of the Thames.Incidentally,the Thames in the city area is called the Isis ! All this in a suburb of the city,mostly built up.There has not been any building space in Oxford since 1950,unless a college sells its sports ground !
I shall see...question...if Slimbridge guard their bids,where did the Barnacle goose come from,maybe it WAS lost !
Mervyn.