A pink-footed goose is pictured in this stock photo. Bird-watchers are flocking to Kentucky to see a pink-footed goose that has been making appearances around the central part of the state.
Adobe.com
Bird-watchers from across Kentucky and surrounding states clamored to get a glimpse of a rare visitor to the area, a pink-footed goose.
First sighted at the end of November in Shelbyville, Kentucky, the goose disappointed many bird-watchers who had traveled to see the rare sight but were too late, per local news outlet WDRB.
On Dec. 20, the bird was seen again, but this time further southeast at Ramsey Farm in Nicholasville, as reported by the Lexington Herald Leader. Twenty bird-watchers anticipated seeing the bird there but were disappointed as it had moved on. A board member of the National Audubon Society — a nonprofit focused on bird and habitat conservation — was among the group that received word that the bird had moved on to a nearby neighborhood. The group followed it to the neighborhood, where the bird-watchers were finally able to see the bird.
These birds don’t normally migrate through this area. Usually inhabiting Iceland and Greenland during the warmer months, they migrate to western Europe during the colder months, per the National Audubon Society.
But this species’ visits to northeastern North America with flocks of Canadian geese are becoming more and more frequent, according to Ebird — much to bird-watchers’ delight.