"I didn't get where I am today … "(as "CJ" used to say on "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin") … by being topical and up-to-date……
But the interweb-thingy sometimes demands this, so I've got some shots from Mai Po this afternoon of a Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides) consorting with cormorants on the Deep Bay mudflats.
If accepted as a wild bird, Swan Goose would be a "First" for Hong Kong. Several Records Committee members bashed out to the boardwalk hides before me, so we'll see what happens. They will have seen it first-hand, and there will be plenty of photos to consider. There is a thread on the HKBWS website here:-
Swan Geese winter along the Yangtse River - I've seen them at Po Yang - so a first winter bird is a good candidate for "overshooting" vagrancy. See pic 3 here:-
But relatives of Swan Geese are the basic domestic goose here in south China, so it's hard to tell for sure.
When we left the boardwalk at 17:35hrs, the light was mostly gone and the lone bird was still wandering about, after nearly all the cormorants had gone… still there tomorrow ?
Who knows ?
I think the word I'm looking for is bug*er.
ReplyDeleteI hope it does turn out to be a wild bird. I would have taken for granted all the swan geese that I see as domestic birds.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew and Mun,
ReplyDeleteWell, it looks like carefully-considered opinion has this down as an escape, and I won't argue too hard with that.
But I'll still drop everything and rush to Mai Po for the NEXT goose report, whenever that turns out to be !
Escapee or not it doen't look too comfortable in among all those Cormorants................must be a bit of an avian snob.
ReplyDeleteStu,
DeleteI think the cormorants have left their messages on the mud...I'd have my nose up, too !
I think Leader P described it as "plain old fat" - if I were the goose I would be mortally offended.
ReplyDelete