After a difficult fortnight and poor weather, it was nice to be out birding in a cold but very sunny morning. With news of a Bean Goose near Shoreham, Doreen and myself decided to visit as Bean Goose is my favourite goose. We arrived just as 3 birders were leaving and surprisingly having the site to ourselves we soon located the Bean Goose as it flew in and landed close by us on the River which was in full tide. As I was quickly getting the camera out, a dog walker came along and flushed it off. It flew over the river bank and landed in a field just west of the river. We were now looking directly into the bright sun but I took a few pictures, it suddenly flew off directly passing us at very close range flew back over the river bank and landed by the edge of the river and started to feed. The sun was now right and we were able to settle down and have some excellent views and pictures. After about 20 minutes, two other birders came along and unfortunately flushed the goose which then had a good fly pass before landing in a field on the East side of the river and out of sight.
Also 1 Common Sandpiper seen.
In the field taken against the sun.
It then took off and flew right past us, before landing on the river edge
giving excellent close views.
The lower mandible shows a distinct gap between the two
mandibles creating a Snow Goose type "grinning" patch
only Tundra not Taiga has this feature.
Although the well coloured yellow bill could suggest Taiga Bean Goose, the small size,
shortish neck with shorter streaking on the neck suggests Tundra Bean Goose, with the
"grinning" patch confirming this.
Tundra Bean Goose by the River Adur near Shoreham
