SW Denver Goose Update

[Doug Ward]

Mid-morning today (Sat., 6 Dec.’25) happened to look up to see an adult ROSS’S GOOSE mixed in with about 35 “Richardson’s CACKLING GEESE flying over our place in southwest Denver (Athmar Park, Denver, Denver Co.) just north of Huston Park.  Given this chance encounter decided to check the goose flock at nearby Overland Golf Course later in the day to see if the luck would continue.  While seemingly not as many as I had last week (see 30 Nov.’25 post), there were still ~3,500 “white-cheeked” geese of which ~60% were “Richardson’s” Cackling, another 30% “Lesser” CANADA GEESE, and the remainder well, “white-cheeked” geese spread out on the golf course.  Spent about a half hour combing the flocks from the South Platte bike path and in addition to a mild case of snow blindness, did manage to also pick up an adult WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and a pair of immature SNOW GEESE.

 

So long story short, if you enjoy littoral wild goose chases to try and find the occasional oddball, then a trip to the various parks and golf courses around the southwest Denver metro area is worth the effort.

 

Good Birding,

Doug

Currently Denver…until tomorrow

 

PS – The nice drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYE continues in the South Platte just south of the Florida bridge.