White-fronted Geese; it was fascinating how not one but two White-fronted Geese came down to south of India together. This happened during the migration season in 2023. And to top it, one was a Greater White-fronted Goose and the other a Lesser White-fronted Goose!

Hadinaru Kere is a lake near Mysuru city. Large number of Bar-headed Geese make it their wintering ground every year. It was the lake that I had travelled to see my first Bar-headed Goose in 2014. During the period when the Bar-headed Geese visited, it had been observed in some occasions, that some unusual visitors also tag along. Therefore many birders pay visit to the lake during the period. It was during one such visit that a birder reported the sighting of a Lesser White-fronted Goose. This was huge as it was a bird that had never been sighted in this part of India before. And for me personally it was a species that I had never seen before 🙂 .

The first to try for the bird from our usual group was Albin and Dhanapal sir; they headed to the lake the next day morning. The bird sighting has been shared after a few days of the actual sighting. So the rest of us eagerly waited to hear from them if the bird was still around. Around noon, we got news that they had sighted the bird and were heading back to Bangalore. I am sure the rest of us sighed with relief; well I sure did 😀 . Then came the twist in the tale.

On their way, they checked the pictures that they had clicked of the bird. They released then that the bird they had actually seen and photographed was not a Lesser White-fronted Goose. It was instead a Greater White-fronted Goose 😲 ! This was another unexpected visitor to the region, and a new species for me. The news of the new sighting spread like wild fire of course.

The next day the 5 of us (Rahul, Albin, Manjula, Dhanapal sir and I) went to the lake to try our luck. We reach the lake by around 4PM. We parked the car near the school and stepped out to scan the water body for the bird. There were plenty of Bar-headed Geese on the lake.

There was no sign of the White-fronted Geese however. Then we decided to drive towards to the back of the lake where it has been seen the previous day. As we were about to leave, we saw a Yellow Bittern nicely showing itself in the nearby reeds.

Once we reached the spot where the bird had been seen the previous day, we started scanning the large flocks of Bar-headed Geese. Hurray, we saw one! It was the Greater White-fronted Goose. Here is a picture of it with the other Geese flock:

Don’t see it? Here it is zoomed in:

It tried to catch some sleep but also in between preened itself. But it always stayed at the back of the flock of Bar-headed Geese. Even when a Western Marsh Harrier came swooping down, it did not get bothered. Smaller birds like Grey-headed Swamphen and Eurasian Coot however scattered. Check out the video towards the end of this post to see it happening.

An hour later, we decided to drive back to the initial spot and then walk the boundary of the lake. Dusk was fast approaching. This was the time when the Geese would headed out to feed through the night. And expected we started seeing flocks of Bar-headed Geese start to fly off from the lake.

Soon we also saw the Greater White-fronted Goose also head off.

Flocks of Bar-headed Geese continued to head out off the lake. It was a sight to see them to do so against the setting sun!

We had hoped to see the Lesser White-fronted Goose too. But it was not to be. It had been several days since it was last sighted. So we were not sure if it was still around. Having come this far, we decided to stay back the night and try our luck the next morning again.

Our plan was to be back at the lake by around 9:30am as it is around then that the Geese would start arriving back at the lake to rest during the day. At the lake we saw flocks of Geese come in as batches. We finally managed to see a White-fronted Goose amongst them. It was the Greater White-fronted Goose. This time we got better views of it. Here are some pictures I clicked.

With no sign of the Lesser White-fronted Goose, we headed back to Bangalore.

The following morning we got a frantic phone call from Albin; the Lesser White-fronted Goose had been sighted at the lake again by another birder in the morning 😲! We did not want to miss seeing it this time. So we dropped everything and started again to the lake within 2 hours ☺️.

Back at the lake by around 4PM again, we finally got our first views of the Lesser White-fronted Goose. And it had been worth it. Just look at the beauty of the bird:

Here are some more pictures as it went around with the other Geese:

We also noticed a Bar-headed Goose with a tag F88.

Like the previous day, the Geese started to head off to feed as dusk approached. This time we got to see the Lesser White-fronted Goose fly away with a few other Bar-headed Geese.

Given that it was late, we again stayed back for the night. The next morning we paid a visit to the lake once again. This time both the Greater White-fronted Goose and Lesser White-fronted Goose were there at the lake.

After birding for around 2 hours, we headed back home wondering when our next visit would be 🙂 .

Video

Here is a short video of the two White-fronted Geese.