My Big Month - Day 27

Today was Memorial Day and again the weather just plain sucked. We didn't even make it above 60 degrees and it was damp and dreary again. It was kind of a weird day and I ended up "birding" sort of part-time at two different locations. I say part-time because I was out with my wife and our main reason for being out and about was to be outside walking and exploring. Our first stop was Fish Lake Park in Maple Grove, Minnesota. We'd kayaked here a couple times in the past but never really explored the trails too much. We could hear a good variety of birds here but never really saw too many. This area has a lot of mature Maple trees and with the leaves now fully out it was tough to spot many birds here. About the only birds I took photos of here were Barn Swallows and a few Green Herons. Later in the day we decided on another completely new location to explore –Boom Island Park and Nicollet Island right in the heart of Minneapolis. I wasn't even going to bring my camera with but my wife convinced me that I might want to get photos of some of the old railway bridges in the area. So I slung it around my neck and was so happy I did. After exploring all over the place and coming back to Boom Island Park I noticed a little bird hop right out in front of me. It was a Blackpoll Warbler! I'd only ever seen this bird briefly from a long distance but remembered that they can look a bit like a Chickadee. I couldn't believe it was so close, in plain view and at eye level and I took a bunch of shots as quickly as I could. It flew up into some smaller trees and I stalked him for a while but never got to see him so out in the open as I did at first. Later we drove down river a little bit, closer to Nicollet Island and I noticed this odd looking Goose wandering around by himself. At first I thought for sure it was some kind of different morphed Canada Goose but then I noticed he didn't have black legs and feet. So then I started taking more photos and realized it might be something I've never seen before. When I got home I was hard pressed to find anything in any of my field guides that looked similar except maybe a dark morph Snow Goose. But even that doesn't seem quite right as the top and front of him look so much like a Canada. I really have no idea what this might be at the time of writing this and have posted the photo to my flickr page asking for help. I really know less than nothing about domesticated birds such as Geese or Chicken and am wondering if that is the reason I am not finding any similar photos. Maybe it is some form of domesticated, or cross-bred Goose?

Total species seen today: Green Heron, Canada Goose, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Blackpoll Warbler, Mallard, Barn Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, American Crow, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, Rock Pigeon, House Finch, Song Sparrow, House Sparrow, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Great Egret and Unidentified Goose pictured above.

Conditions: 58 degrees, overcast and drizzly rain.