February 27, 2006
Winter wildfowl at the Etang de Saclay
This lunchtime David Rousseau kindly took me out to the Etang de Saclay. The cold weather had brought some very interesting species to the lake, including 7 White-fronted Goose (Oie rieuse), 1 Bean Goose (Oie des moissons, presumably Tundra race, but too distant to be sure), 3 flyover Greylags (Oie cendrée), and 1 Barnacle Goose (Bernache nonnette) of questionable origin in flight with 3 Canadas. Best of the ducks was 1 redhead Smew (Harle piette), but there were also good numbers of Teal (Sarcelle d'hiver), Shoveler (Canard souchet) and Pintail (Canard pilet). The White-fronts, Bean Goose and Smew were all in the same ice-free patch of water at the back of the lake, so I only managed a few terrible 'record shots':
White-fronts (rieuses) and Smew (Harle piette). The left-hand White-front is obviously orange-billed like the Greenland race, but the birds were too far away to be sure...
Smew (far left), Bean Goose (middle, facing left), White-front (far right)
Bean Goose
On my walk into work I heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Pic épeichette) drumming and calling, and got good views of a flock of Siskins (Tarin des aulnes).
