About 4 weeks ago, I took a new friend on a "wild goose chase". He's a new birder and wanted to add geese to his rapidly growing list. COVID restrictions had been relaxed to the point that I could take him in my car as long as we both wore masks, so off we went to Verdal and Levanger to find geese. First stop was a bird sanctuary at Ørin in Verdal. This is a small point of land surrounded by shallows/mudflats of a river delta. The landspit itself is overgrown with buckthorn and willow shrubs, so the whole area is great for waders, ducks, and small woodland birds ... which is why there was a successful campaign to preserve at least this small area when most of the mudflats were scheduled to be turned over to industry. There's a banding station there, and a trail out to a hide overlooking the mudflats. On our way out to the hide we saw Redpolls, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, and Yellowhammers.
