Life Bird Alert!

I Like My Goose Rare

Last Saturday was meant to be a lazy day. My wife Alex was in Los Angeles on dual business—first, an Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference. Second, a dream panel featuring some of her favorite TV people. The boys and I meanwhile had big plans of our own. We were gonna, to the best of our abilities, lounge around, eat poorly, and hopefully set a new gold standard for sloth.

But when the Rare Bird Alert was sounded (via Discord text) at 9:46 a.m., I knew an opportunity to make amends had just presented itself. A vagrant goose had just been sighted. After oversleeping and failing to deliver a Ruffed Grouse on our Ruffed Grouse Quest, I texted my birding friend Sofia—

Pick you up in 20 minutes?

I’m not a bossy person. The wording was gentle, but the text was meant to be read thusly—

I’M PICKING YOU UP IN 20 MINUTES!!

The bird, native to northernmost Europe, was surely making its first ever appearance in western Pennsylvania, and such a rarity was not to be missed. Sofia understood the urgency of the situation.

Omg sure thank you so much!! Need this goose lmaooo

There’s no telling how long a vagrant bird will stick around. Could be days. Could be minutes. This was no lifer quest, it was a lifer emergency. If we missed it, lmaooo would quickly turn to 😭😭😭

In a perfunctory gesture, I invited the boys to come along. After their unanimous No thanks, I instructed them to seek food as needed. Yes, please have potato chips and Nutella for lunch.

We had a half hour drive to the site—the bird was hanging with a flock of Canada Geese on the Allegheny River in the Creighton community of East Deer Township. I drove like a man possessed—at times risking two, even three MPH over the speed limit, traffic laws be damned.

Updates started rolling in as we neared the location. The goose was on the move. Shit! The bird has had been refound. Yes! The birders of Allegheny County were on the case, and they had tracked it to more festive confines—the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Unfamiliar with the area, I appealed to Siri, who quickly adjusted the GPS and led us to the hallowed grounds of my favorite locally crafted cheap beer, and Pittsburgh institution, Iron City.

A small congregation of birders was already gathered when we pulled up. Spotting scopes were pointed in the same direction. Binoculars were glued to eyes. When I perceived a soft halo hanging in the air, the unmistakable glow of collective joy, I knew we had it.

Barnacle Goose.

There it was, gorgeous and foraging in that likeliest of goose habitats—a lawn. Barnacle Geese, like their Canada kindred, apparently love to make a smorgasbord (and a godforsaken mess) of a green, grassy expanse. That made observing the lifer easy. For me, it was life bird #430, and what a memorable one! With the goose content for the foreseeable future, we were able to stay put and bask in wonderment. The question of what such a bird was doing in Pittsburgh raised a few doubts about provenance. Was the bird wild or an escapee? Was some zoo missing a goose? Most sightings this far out of their range have been attributed as such. Was there any way to tell? Don’t know. Not sure I care, either. The state records committee will have a decision to make. Meanwhile, I’ll go ahead and ride this high. The bird is stunning, and I’d never seen one before. For me, for now, that’s enough.

The Barnacle Goose belongs to the Branta family of geese, which includes the Canada, Cackling, and Hawaiian (AKA Néné, state bird of Hawaii) varieties, among others. Its name comes from a medieval notion that they were unlike other birds in that, instead of hatching from eggs in nests, they sprang underwater from barnacles. The fact that they were breeding unobserved in the arctic flummoxed naturalists of the day and gifted us one the great bird names. Let’s hope the bird namers of the world don’t overthink this one, in spite of the scientific misfire that spawned it.

Barnacle Goose populations are on the rise, and sightings of them in the US are getting more common, especially along the east coast. This was not a first for the state, but one appearing so far inland was unheard of until Saturday. Allegheny County certainly had no such prior record. Congrats to the local birder who found it!

Getting a life bird is always a thrill, no matter the bird or the circumstances. But I personally love when a bird brings the birding community together, like in September of 2023, when two American Flamingos appeared in a farm pond in south central Pennsylvania, an event that gathered birders from all four corners of the state, and beyond.

The American Flamingos of Pennsylvania

Birders rejoicing in the American Flamingos of Pennsylvania

Last weekend it was a rare Old World waterfowl. As my friend and I stood there gawking at this absolutely beautiful goose (my second lifer goose with Sofia), more and more birders arrived on the scene, some faces familiar, some strange, but all guided by a shared passion. Sometimes the phenomenon of a rare bird can bring out the ugly side of birding in the form of overzealous photographers stressing birds out and trampling habitat. Happily, everyone enjoyed the Barnacle Goose from a respectful distance.

As for making amends, the goose proved a healing salve. I dropped Sofia off in peace, confident our friendship had been salvaged.

One final note—it turns out the emergency wasn’t as dire as I’d thought. As of today, the bird was still around. If you live reasonably close to Pittsburgh, drop by! If you find yourself in a celebratory mood in the aftermath, you can tour the brewery (or the new Iron City Distillery next door) afterwards for a mere $25, samples included!

Featured Photo—Field Guide Notations

Whenever I get a life bird, I like to consult my grandparents’ field guide to see if they got it too. This time they did, at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Oak Harbor, Ohio. That’s surprising, and I’m guessing it was an exotic import. I wish I knew the circumstances behind that sighting, especially the date. Perhaps I’ll do some research, maybe contact the refuge. Stay tuned!

10/10 Recommends

Old Farm Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey

Many birders celebrate a new life bird with a slice of pie—what has come to be known on social media platforms as #LiferPie. I love pie, but there was a time in my early birding career when I was getting lifers daily. That’s too much pie. After all, I started birding in part to help control my weight. But I do like the idea of a lifer ritual, so I came up with a rhyming twist—#LiferRye. Nowadays I celebrate a lifer with a shot of rye whiskey, and Old Farm Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey is a smooth, reasonably priced, reasonably complex spirit that proved a satisfying end to a successful lifer quest.

Iron City Beer

Speaking of snobbery, I used to be way pickier about the beer I drank. Today, in the age of the $22 four-pack, I can appreciate a cheap beer, especially after a few hours of yard work, or some summertime birding. Iron City may not have the most complex flavor profile, but an ice-cold IC (chilled for 10 minutes in the freezer) on a sweaty day is just the thing to cut the dust. Pro tip—a frosty IC is twice as refreshing if drunk in the shower!

That’s all for this week. What’s your latest life bird? How about the rarest bird to visit where you live? Have you ever gotten a rarity in your own yard? Have you experienced rare bird joy with dozens or even hundreds of others? Tell me all about it in the comments!👇

Until next time, bird your ass off!

nwb

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Or buy me a beer. An ice-cold Iron City would sure hit the spot.

This post was human-generated. All photos by Nathaniel Bowler.