White-fronted Goose is the most likely to be seen goose species near Hakodate but they were probably the least numerous of the 3 (or 4?) species on show in Urahoro last week.
They seemed to be well outnumbered by Cackling Geese at this particular spot.
Large numbers, 500 at least and maybe 700 or 800, of Cackling Goose were arriving from all directions. We had stumbled across the geese fields in Urahoro: this is the best place in Hokkaido to see Snow and Cackling Geese as they pause here for several weeks before they head further south. Probably almost the entire Japanese population of Cackling Geese in one spot! I had no idea that a) this was the place and b) the geese would arrive so early.
Neil and Richard had told us of a huge goose flock in north Hokkaido they’d seen a couple of days ago and this must have been the same flock.
On our way back from east Hokkaido we went through Urahoro and turned off the main road onto a quiet road for a ‘short cut’…………….
We noticed some Japanese Cranes in a field so we stopped to take a look.
Then we noticed lots of geese at the back of the field with more arriving all the time. Just White-fronts and Beans I thought. But no…………………
Not great photos but you can see the Cackling Geese in amongst the White-fronted Geese in these pics……….
There were at least 3, maybe 4 of them.
The big goose flock was still near Onuma yesterday.
I wanted to get some Cackling Goose pics (there are a few in among all the White-fronted Geese). You can see a couple resting here (the ones with the black heads and white cheeks).
They weren’t the only flocks around that location. Lots of swans of course but also this group of 100 or so Common Redpoll.
Lots of geese around this weekend: several hundred at Onuma. Mainly White-fronted Geese on Sunday and mainly Bean Geese (above) on Monday. They were very wary and stayed out in the middle of a big ice-free part of the lake. Not many photo opps……..
One thing I’ve been doing religiously with geese flocks over the years is check for rarities. Snow Goose, Lesser White-fronted Goose and Cacckling Goose are the 3 possibilities. Until yesterday I’d always drawn blanks but look what I found…………..
3 Cackling Goose in among all the Pintails. A totally crappy record shot but my first lifer in over 18 months!
A White-tailed Eagle flushed the wildfowl and the 3 birds disappeared and I couldn’t relocate them. At least I got a record shot. Also in among the wildfowl were several Baikal Teal, also too far off for any pics sadly.