Geese ID SW Ireland (1 Viewer)

[mshorten]

Flyby geese, look to small for Greylag. White-fronted or Pink- foot perhaps. Flying into strong light so not sure if pale above bill is white or overexposed

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,

difficult pictures for me,so I decided to wait for others to comment first, but as no one has written something, my thoughts:

• first: they look like Pink-footed Geese to me:
• small, triangular, stubby bill excludes Greylag and many/most Bean Geese, I agree with you
• I would expect to show evident/strong barring on the belly in a White-fronted Goose. Yes, individual variation and these are only three of them ... but this came into my mind
• I fiddled around with exposure/brightened them up and changed colour saturation. And after this, I think, the appearant pale blaze is an artefact/ due to strong light as you said (but its really tricky, and clearly a pitfall picture. No offence you know)
• and with a huge caveat I think I can just make out the right dirty pink colour on the feet and the bill. But yes, this cant be judged with confidence.

Conclusion? Although especially the lowest bird has an appearant blaze good for a (Lesser) WF Goose, I would identify your birds as Pink footed Geese if forced.

But my bad feeling hasnt gone. So better wait for confirmation or correction. Thanks from me, too!

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

with the direction of the light , I also wouldn´t trust the white blaze and agree that this looks best for pinkfooted goose