Canada Goose – Memos for Me

Rare birds

February 4, 2024

My goal is to find 300 bird species in Arkansas. I’m now so close. I’m at 298 spotted and 294 photographed. My recent finds include the adorable Rock Wren pictured above. It was first spotted at Blackwell Bridge in Conway County by a fisherman who said the wren hung around for weeks before he finally identified it. And the wren was friendly. The wren popped out of the rocks near me when I went to find it and gave me excellent look of it before it finally went back down to be hidden among the rocks and nearby weeds.

While I had previously seen a Cackling Goose (pictured above alongside the larger Canada Goose), this month marked the first time I was able to get a picture of one. The Cackling Goose looks like the Canada Goose but is smaller with a shorter neck and a smaller beak.

I also found the above Tundra Swan, which looks just like the Trumpeter Swan to its right with the exception of a yellow mark next to its eye.

Cackling Geese

January 18, 2024

While I saw my first Cackling Goose several years ago, I didn’t actually have a photo of one – that is until today. There were six Cackling Geese mixed in with Canada Geese at Beaverfork Lake in Conway, Ark. Cackling Geese are similar to Canada Geese, but are half the size with a shorter neck, small bill and a steep forehead.

Cackling Geese breed in subarctic and arctic habitats in Canada and Alaska, and can be found in Arkansas during the winter months. But, they are still considered rare in the state. Not many have been spotted over the past few years. The six spotted today actually brought out several birders from Central Arkansas enticed also by reports of Common Mergansers and a Red-necked Grebe being found at the lake. Of the three reported rare birds, I only lacked photos of the Cackling Geese.

Photos: Migration Craziness

May 28, 2023

My birding trips have picked up recently. I’ve found a birding buddy to go on weekly birding trips to different parts of the state, and we’ve been taking advantage of the current bird migrations to see as many birds as we can. Here’s a few of what we have seen so far: