The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Some work I needed to do at Chapel St Leonards was the ideal excuse for a wild goose chase at Huttoft Pit yesterday (29th Dec).

Closer to Sutton on Sea were a distant flock of about 50 Pinkfeet and about 70 grazing Wigeon which flew into a small pit.

Just North of the main pit I could see a flock of geese including some Whitefronts visible from the main road. I walked to the hide at Huttoft Pit and by standing on the bench and peering sideways through the scope managed to pick out 5 Bean Geese from a mixed flock of Pinkfeet and Whitefronts. The whole flock then took off and landed right in front of me on the pit. With the sun behind me I had perfect views of 5 Beans and about 25 each of Pinkfeet and Whitefronts. Several of the Whitefronts were juveniles adding to the valuable identity parade in front of me. These were my first Bean Geese so I hesitate but would suggest that they were Taiga Beans because of their long beaks and larger size. After 15 minutes the Whitefronts and Pinkfeet flew back to their grazing followed 5 minutes later by the Bean Geese.

On the shore were a flock of 13 Sanderling and 3 Snow Buntings flew North.

Hugh Dorrington

Hugh,311211, i was looking at the mixed goose flock feeding in the winter cereal and although
distant there were 5 beans which with there rounded heads and dark bills with small orangey band and of the same size as the adjacent pink feet ,suggest they are tundras ( rossicus)
fabalis have longer head and neck, and mostly orange bill and stand taller than pinks,
thats my view,( but as said they were distant) but a good number of birders have seen them so we,ll see if more comment comes., happy 2012 regards John.

Hugh,

I believe the general concenus with the birders that I have spoken too state the Bean Geese are "Tundra" (previous comments by John sum describes some features I have also read about).

Tundras are also known to associate with pinkies too, so another helpful hint perhaps.

I am no expert though and generally tend to gain assistance from more experienced birders with this species too.

I have some images of them on my blog.

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JH Birding
http://jhbirding.blogspot.com