Bean Geese at Slamannan

Many people come to look at the bean goose flock but perhaps do not realise that the beak patterns of our birds are varied in colour.

Most field guides show only a general pattern but it is more variable than generally thought

There are 4 different patterns of orange and black and also 4 different amounts of white around the face. That means 16 different overall patterns.

I attach a few pictures taken this past week courtesy of Kris Gibb which shows clearly these differences.

I will speak more about this later.