Bean Goose!!!
Birding in Alaska and Close to Home
The date was June 9, 1992, and the place was St. Paul, Alaska, a remote island in the middle of the Bering Sea. A group of intrepid birders were eating breakfast. Suddenly, one of our guides stuck his head into the room and hollered “BEAN GOOSE”!!! The restaurant emptied like it was on fire, as people rushed to see this rare spring migrant. I was able to see the back end of a large, rapidly departing goose as it disappeared over the horizon!
Back then it was simply called “Bean Goose.” Subsequently, it was “split” into two separate species, Tundra Bean-Goose and Taiga Bean-Goose. The names are interesting, reflecting two distinct and significant habitats. Arctic tundra is farther north and treeless, while taiga has dense conifer forests. According to our guide, queried years later, the one we had seen on St. Paul Island was a Taiga.
Five years ago, in 2021, a Bean-Goose visited our part of the country, the greater Capital Region of New York State. It was a Tundra, the species I’d never seen. Initially, I wasn’t able to go look for it, as I was out of the area getting one of those difficult-to-schedule, newly available Covid vaccines! Then I was home, recovering from its side effects... All this time, the goose was around, and being seen - and tracked- by birders from near and far. The next day, it was still in the area, and I felt well enough to go. Our friend Alan was watching it, and Denise and I were heading up the interstate...but alas, when we were only 10 minutes away, he texted with bad news. The goose had flown away!
So, no Tundra Bean-Goose for us. But in mid-winter 2025, a Taiga Bean-Goose showed up in our area, providing a very distant view on the Hoosic River. The photo below shows the location; trust me…there is a Bean-Goose in the distance!
Most recently, and almost exactly a year later, another (perhaps the same?) Taiga Bean-Goose showed up at a local farmland, about 35 miles (as the goose flies) from the previous year’s location. Word quickly spread, and other birders and I were fortunate to get a closer look and photos of this rare visitor!
Now, if only another “Tundra” would show up!
In your 2025 photo, it looks like there is also a goose on the shore of the first pond