Tundra Bean Goose vs Pink-footed Goose in Tver Region, European Russia (1 Viewer)

[Pasha]

Dear colleagues,

please help with ID of geese recorded on April, 23, south of Tver Region, European Russia

2 birds in the flock of GWFG: similar in size to GWFG, noticably short necked, relatively short-billed, grayish upper wings color

We suppose 2 species:
Pink-footed Goose (rare in the region)
Tundra Bean Goose (obviously not uncommon on migration)

Regards,
Pasha

 

[Pasha]

Additional shots with GWFG

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Pasha,
what hard pictures, at least for me. Yes, its easy to say that, all features for PFG are there, including

• pale outer wing with a contrasting dark band, nearly acting as a boarder
• contrasting darkish head and neck (but it looks somehow strange to me. Reason? Dont know, maybe that the dark is reaching far down the neck?)
• pale breast with a pinkish-buff wash
• dirty-pinkish legs in one picture and pinkish-orange (its the colour I see on my screen)

BUT: after I got help from Lützen Portengen some time before (thanks again!), I looked at Bean Geese again more closely, and I found Bean Geesese with some of these features:

• Bean Geese can show a cotrasting darker head and neck, similar to this birds here
• Quite a few Bean Goose can show a warmer coloured/hued breast, similar to these birds
• these features might well be enhanced by picture quality

Yes, I havent seen a Bean Goose with clear pink legs before (but please note my caveat above) and the pale and dark outer wing seems very good for PFG.


BUT again: the greater coverts of the left bird seems dark, nearly forming a contrasting dark bar (enhanced by contrasting white framing). I have seen this in those "PFG look-alike" Bean Geese before, while on "real" PFG the greater-coverts are pale, not contrasting with the other pale parts of the wing or even slightly paler.

Conclusion? I am unsure, and with the status of PFG in European Russia in mind I would opt for Bean Goose (mainly by the dark greater coverts bar and the strange gut feeling described above). But with such a bad feeling. And I hope for more comments as always. Thanks!

 

[lou salomon]

PFG would be an extreme vagrant. these are very very likely Tundra Bean Geese. Concerning leg colour I recently fell into that trap seeing pics of a large flock of rossicus which even in best light seemed to show pinkish legs (I think cameras easily get tricked and give orange legs a pink cast).

 

[THE_FERN]

Don't think we can say definitely from these pics. However, just to point out that the upper wing appears quite pale, and the seems a fair bit of white in the tail