By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching NC
Late autumn has the potential to bring surprise avian visitors to the Triangle region of central North Carolina.
Case in point, this Snow Goose that I was lucky to find in Raleigh behind the Antioch Church off of Lake Wheeler Rd. yesterday morning!
Normally I have to travel to the coast to see these handsome white birds so it was neat to spot this bird so close to my home.
Snow Geese are wintertime residents to the eastern coastal counties of the Tarheel state. Each year, thousands of them descend onto the farm fields and tidewater marshes to feed and roost during the cooler months.
Dedicated herbivores, their diet consists of leaves, grass, seeds and spilt grain found in agricultural fields.
In fact, I’ve always had better luck finding Snow Geese on land than on the water which is why I enjoyed photographing this one floating on the pond!
The best places to find Snow Geese in North Carolina are at Lake Mattamuskeet, the Pocosin Lakes NWR, and on Pea Island in the OBX. They are easy to ID in the field since they’re smaller than the Tundra Swans and that beautiful white plumage certainly stands out among any mixed flock of other geese.
Look for them from mid October through early March.
I know I’m certainly excited about the possibility of seeing more of them in the season ahead 🙂
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my mighty 50 megapixel monster, the @canonusa #5Ds