Santa Barbara Birding | Gaggles of Geese

On the morning of October 10, I was birding on Santa Cruz Island and was puzzled by what sounded like the yapping of small dogs coming from high overhead. At first I saw only sky, but then a large skein of geese in a ragged V formation flew overhead — they were greater white-fronted geese. Over the morning, several more skeins flew over, totaling more than 150 birds. A small flock even settled down in the watershed near the anchorage and proceeded to graze on what grasses they could find. When I got home later that day, I found that the birding hotlines were abuzz with news that large numbers of greater white-fronted geese had been seen across coastal southern California. This goose is regular in winter here, but usually only in very small numbers.

Greater white-fronted geese breed on the Arctic tundra and winter by the thousands in California’s Central Valley, as well as in Texas and Mexico. Adults form close pair bonds, mating for life, and they travel together after leaving the nesting site. The offspring also travel with their parents until they are old enough to breed at 3 years of age. Until then, during breeding season, they will help their parents defend the nest. Adults are easy to identify by the white feathering at the base of the bill that gives the bird its name, while juveniles lack this feature. The birds that landed at Scorpion Cove on Santa Cruz Island appeared to represent two or three family groups.

Birders were soon conjecturing about the possible reasons behind the sheer number of birds being seen up and down the coast. It appears that the birds had come here from the Central Valley after finding a shortage of food there. Geese get much of their sustenance from grains that have been missed during the fall harvest, particularly rice. Because of the water shortage, far less rice had been planted than usual, there was less food for the geese, and so the wandering birds were desperately looking for sustenance.