Snow Goose

Here's someone I hadn't seen at Duke Farms before, a pair of Snow Geese. This probably isn't outside their range, though they were new to me. They were on Heron Lake.

Snow Geese are known to congregate in large flocks. I don't know how this pair got separated from a larger group of Snow Geese, but I suspect that in the absence of other Snow Geese they joined in with the next best thing: a flock of Canada Geese. There are also a pair of Mallards in the back, but they were just passing through; before and after the picture the Mallards were in different parts of the lake.

Although Canada Geese have some reputation for being aggressive, I don't think I've ever seen them mistreating other waterfowl. I suppose the dynamic changes if they had vulnerable goslings around, but this time of year they seem accepting of the presence of the Snow Goose cousins.

December 17, 2021 at Duke Farms
Photo 174171294, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

 

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