Sighting of rare goose on Mayo lake

By Tom Gillespie

NATIONAL Parks and Wildlife Service ranger, Jamie Durrant, recently identified a pink-footed goose on the shores of Lough Carra.

It was amongst a group of whooper swans and greylag geese in the Castle Carra area.

This goose is a rare visitor to Ireland and this is the only known record for Lough Carra.

It is very similar to the greylag goose and care is needed to separate the two species.

The pink-footed goose appears slightly smaller than the greylag goose in direct comparison. Adult pink-feet can be identified by the darker brown head and neck, as well as the small and dark beak.

Occasionally the pink-feet has a white rim surrounding the bill, as in Greenland white-fronted goose. Juvenile pink-footed geese are very similar to adults, but can be distinguished by the lack of barring on the flanks and wings.

The pink-footed is a scarce winter visitor from October to March, usually associating with other geese.

It breeds on the open tundra of Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard from May to August.

Pink-footed geese winter on the coastal marshes of the UK, as well as Belgium and Denmark. It is only a scarce visitor to Ireland, associating with other wintering geese such as greylag and white-fronts.