Flora & Fauna (media)

9641    (16 Photos)    (1 sounds)    (1 videos)    Same individual 205

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) Same individual: 205

2025-02-06    Ishøj Strand, Denmark

Adult Male Boldbanerne ved strandengen.

Been present a few days with 1000+ Barnacle Geese. One could speculate if it is the same bird that visited last year?

It was very energetic today. Chasing the others, calling eagerly and often stretching the neck high and thick in a truly almighty rooster-manner. Suspecting it to be a male, that masculine behavior stood in strong contrast to the girlish thin voice it had: iiv-ehv, as you can hear in the recording; but rather characteristic, and I'm sure it would be possible to nail one in a passing flock standing in blinding fog at the obs post on Sydvestpynten.

I've added in a few photos where the bird is obscured in different ways, just to give you an idea about how difficult it can be to spot it in a larger mixed flock. While I was there, everytime I didn't look at the bird, and wanted to find it again, it took a while before I did; the brain struggling to identify the black back, the white flank streak and wing bars.

In recording also Barnacle Geese.

Rare

9770    (3 Photos)    (1 sounds)    Same individual 205

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) Same individual: 205

2025-03-09    Kalvebod Fælled (København), Denmark

Adult Male Royal Golf Club.
Found foraging by someone else in the afternoon with a large flock of Barnacle Geese on the golf course. I twitched it in the absolutely last light of the day. Shot at t160,f5.6,i6400 there was nothing more to do with my outdated 7D markII. Photo 2 is what it looked like out of the camera. The edited photo looks like a painting, but I kinda like it, so I'm not going to invest more time trying to make it look more natural.

The bird was calling and behaved somewhat dominating, just like the bird at Ishøj earlier this year, and hearing it calling, it sounded familiar, and I wonder if it could be the same bird?

The spectrogram shows the part with the call, but it is not distinct enough, blending in with the barnacle sounds.

9776    (3 Photos)    Same individual 205

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) Same individual: 205

2025-03-10    Kalvebod Fælled (København), Denmark

Adult Male Royal Golf Club.
Still present and apparently spent the night in the nearby lake. There was some disturbance with golfers walking all over the place. First photo was taken just as I was ready to take the first shot of the bird and a golfer decided to walk straight into the flock. Luckily the geese seem to like the spot a lot, so they didn't fly long and I got the distant photos. This was from within the course area, away from the public trails, so I didn't like to spend too much time there and accepted what I got. Even though the idea with todays visit was to get close enough photos to try to be able to determine if this bird is the same as the one from Ishøj.

9777    (7 Photos)    Same individual 205

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) Same individual: 205

2025-03-11    Amager Fælled, Denmark

Adult Male Boldbanerne.
Some 500 meters from the golf club where it was found earlier, it is still here with 950 barnacle geese. Also the day after, the 12th, where it was seen both here and on the golf course during the day.

My photos of today reveal that it is the same bird as the one I saw at Ishøj In February, both showing a unique border along the greater coverts. (Lars Paaby has concluded the same).

People have started calling it a male, which I agree with. It does seem to match many of the barnacles in size, and even the biggest females are smaller than any barnacle. So.

I wonder what the Municipality's Chief Gardener thinks about all the free natural fertilizer that the geese generously have gifted him with...

9778    (4 Photos)    Same individual 205

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) Same individual: 205

2025-03-13    Kalvebod Fælled (København), Denmark

Adult Male Royal Golf Club.
Hoping to get closer photos today, starting to look for it on Amager Fælled. All the barnacles were but this one not. I drove to the golf course and found it in a small flock of barnacles, but in that same moment two golfers approached and flushed the birds. Luckily I had just pulled my camera out of the bag, ready to walk, when the birds took flight, so when they came right toward me, I just had to shoot. No time to adjust settings of course, and with overcast dark weather the result is accordingly. But still my first decent flight shots of the species, why I'm ok satisfied.

Thought it looked like it flew to Amager Fælled, I couldn't find it there when I went back, but it was reported later in the afternoon again. Must be a really good type of grass!

9785    (2 Photos)    Same individual 205

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) Same individual: 205

2025-03-14    Kalvebod Fælled (København), Denmark

Adult Male Royal Golf Club.
Still present and now in company of a bird number <a href="https://jesperbayjacobsen.com/page_start.php?file=bview&search=singlephoto&id=6273" >two</a> [likely the bird reported from Ishøj a few days ago]. However, when I was there the two birds didn't seem to interact at all, even though they were foraging few meters from each other. The other one is thought to be a female because of the smaller size, but I'm not sure. I would rather speculate and like both of them to be males, explaining why they preferred to forage exclusively.

The birds were pushed around a lot today, and the male first coming in with the swimming group, and later the last half of the group came in, and then the two birds were foraging together. But only shortly because they were chased away by a considerate golfer, who didn't think enough of his own abilities to over-shoot the flock.

9788    (11 Photos)    Same individual 205

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) Same individual: 205

2025-03-18    Kalvebod Fælled (København), Denmark

Adult Male Royal Golf Club.
Moving to new parts of the golf course as the grass becomes too short. Here at the lake in front of the club house. Without any rain for a long time now, and combined with the chilly weather, the grass doesn't grow much. Last reported on March 20.