Nemesis No More!

Greater White-fronted Goose

A Greater White-fronted Goose had been discovered at Andrew Haydon Park yesterday, so I went out this morning with the hope of re-finding it. This species has been a nemesis of mine since I started birding back in 2006. After many frustrating attempts and near-misses trying to find my life bird, I finally saw an adult at the Moodie Drive quarry pond on October 9, 2012. The only other one I’ve seen was a juvenile at the Pink-footed Goose site on Highway 138 on November 15, 2015. Neither stayed in view long enough, or was close enough, for me to photograph – the adult was the last in a line of Canada Geese swimming out from behind the grassy spit at the quarry pond, and when the geese at the front of the line took to the air, it quickly flew off with them. The juvenile was much further away, and although I got a longer look at it than the adult at the quarry pond, I was too busy looking through my scope trying to figure out what it was than to photograph it. Eventually it was swallowed up in the massive flock of Snow Geese. Since seeing my lifer in 2012, I’ve looked for them in every flock of Canada Geese I’ve come across and chased reports of them in the west end, hoping for better views and my first photographs of this species. When I saw the report yesterday morning, I hoped the Greater White-fronted Goose would stick around long enough for me to find it today, but given my experience with this species, I wasn’t counting on it.