Emperor Goose

Chen canagica

The late Summer and early Fall of 2009 will long be remembered by birders in Vancouver, BC as being one of the best for rare birds. Unfortunately, I missed many of the earlier vagrants due to my being incapacitated following the bike and dog accident in late August. However, I wasn't going to miss any more once I was able to move around a bit. This juvenile Goose is extremely rare south of Alaska and normally winters in the Aleutian Islands. It was found amongst at least 1,000 Snow Geese at this particular spot. The Snow Geese in their thousands visit us twice a year. We are lucky to be in their migration flyway.