Greenwich's Wild Goose Chase
Indoor Track results, Clovers help cats, Hochul response
By Darren Johnson
Journal & Press
I’ve received various reports of a unique goose in town. It may be an ultra-rare Taiga Bean Goose, but cold be an also-rare Tundra Bean Goose.
The consensus so far is it’s a Taiga (which have a longer bill, usually with more yellow on it). These come from Northern Europe, and one hasn’t been identified in this state, or even anywhere in the Northeastern USA, before.
Birders have descended upon Rock Street Park in Greenwich, where the rare goose is hanging out with common Canada Geese along the Battenkill.
(Bean Geese are known to mingle with other types of geese.)
Village clerk Jane Dowling alerted me by phone and said that numerous cars with out-of-state plates were seen parked in the area, with people trying to get this first-ever glimpse at the bird.
I’ve been asking around. Here is the best photo I’ve gotten, from Jeff Nadler (www.jnphoto.net), a professional photographer from Burnt Hills:
I asked him if he was a birder and if he’d ever gotten such a shot before. Jeff replied: “This is a first recorded sighting for New York State and have never birded northern Europe, where it lives. The most notable distinguishing marks are the orange feet and bill and a subtle white line along the side. I am more a bird photographer than birder but it was still exciting to see such a rarity.”
I’d first been alerted to the bird earlier in the morning by our “Outdoors Tomorrow” columnist Bob Henke, who wrote this as a sidebar to his usual column that he had submitted by email (he’s in the “Tundra” camp):
“I would be remiss if I did not report the tundra bean goose, which has been in the Hudson River in Fort Miller. This goose, a native of the arctic areas of Eurasia, is extremely common in its typical habitat and yet quite rare on this hemisphere. One was sighted on Saratoga Lake in 2021, traveling with a group of snow geese. My suspicion is, this is the same bird, just happily setting up house-keeping with the snows.”
I’d texted one of the bird watchers, who had blogged about the sighting. Zach Schwartz-Weinstein, a scholar and professor who trekked up here from downstate, is in the Taiga camp. He replied to my questions:
DJ: Why are so many people interested in this bird?
ZSW: The goose is a Taiga Bean-Goose (Anser fabalis) a species native to Scandinavia and the northern areas of Eastern Europe. This is the first record of this species for New York, and the first record for the east coast of the United States. It is probably the same individual that spent part of November and December in Matane, Quebec, which was the first record for Eastern North America. This individual was first sighted in New York at Saratoga State Boat Launch on December 31 by a birder named Karen Randall. It was seen there again two days later, and then went missing for a week, until John McKay rediscovered it at Fort Miller on the 9th. Since then it visited Northumberland and has spent the last 48 hours in Greenwich, moving between the river and cornfields.
Besides the extreme rarity of this species in this hemisphere, it’s also notable that it was first seen at the exact same spot that the first New York record of its sister species, the Tundra Bean-Goose, was seen four years ago.
DJ: So is it in fact a Taiga Bean Goose, or a Tundra Bean Goose?
ZSW: The final determination on the ID will be made by the New York State Avian Records Committee (NYSARC). This bird’s bill shape and bill color, as well as head and neck shape, all point to Taiga over Tundra (which is also extremely rare in the US.). Compared to the 2021 Tundra Bean-Goose, this bird has a longer bill with much more orange pigmentation on it, and a much weaker “grin patch” on the bill. (Tundra Bean-Geese have shorter, darker bills, with limited orange, and a much more pronounced “grin patch.”)
And that’s where were are right now.
Keep your distance from this first-of-a-kind visitor to Greenwich. Keep your dogs away from the area. Let the professionals with the big zoom lenses get the photos. We’ll post them here as we get them.
Local Reps Respond to Gov. Hochul’s State of the State
Both Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, a Democrat, and State Senator Jake Ashby, a Republican, issued skeptical statements after Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State message yesterday. Online, practically all commenters are deriding the governor’s message and the lousy “state of the state.”
Here are the statements:
Woerner:
The themes laid out by Governor Hochul in her State of the State address today echo the issues I hear from my constituents: make the state a more affordable and safer place to live and work.
Certainly, tax cuts, childcare tax credits, and sales tax refunds are all welcome. However, I did not hear, and will be pushing for, systemic changes that lower the cost of housing and energy particularly.
I am encouraged by the Governor’s pragmatic initiatives that address public safety and severe mental illness in people who are homeless. While we made investments to increase the number of mental health beds over the last two years, there remains a significant shortage of care resources for those in need of intensive mental health services.
The Governor’s proposal to provide free tuition at community colleges for adult learners who pursue careers in fields where good paying jobs exist, but there are not enough people to fill them, is an interesting one. I look forward to hearing the details on this and all her other initiatives in the coming days.
Finally, I am disappointed that the Governor did not speak to the ongoing financial challenges facing our upstate healthcare system. Hospitals and nursing homes especially, are on a financial precipice. A lack of dental care and primary care practitioners in rural areas means fewer people get the consistent care they need. These challenges must be taken head on and specifically addressed this year.
Ashby:
The governor can’t quite seem to decide if she’s taking a victory lap or on an apology tour. It was deeply strange. She wants you to believe she’s passed the most significant housing legislation in state history but that she’s keenly focused on solving an accelerating housing crisis. That she’s spent her tenure championing the working class but must now tackle a pervasive affordability crisis. That she’s prioritized public safety but now must get to work stopping an unsettling crime wave. She says we can’t solve the problems she’s allegedly already comprehensively addressed without a fight. I don’t get it! Who is she fighting? The Democrats in the Legislature who have enacted her failed agenda? The lobbyists and wealthy corporations who have funded her massive campaign war chest? This was not a coherent address.
Witches Fly at Utica Invite
Utica University, Utica, NY 1/11/25 – The Greenwich Central HS indoor track and field team competed at the Utica Challenge and in a day of several striking performances, broke two school records.
Joe Radovich lit up the track, chasing down several runners in the final 100 meters of the 300M race to place second, by 1/100th of a second, in 37.00. Radovich's time erased the 2024 300M school record of 37.32, held by Jay'den White. Radovich also met the standard to compete in the State Qualifier meet.
Other stellar, scoring performances (top 8) among the boys include Radovich in the 55M dash (5th, 6.96); Sam Dixson in the 1600M (5th, 4:56); The 4x400M relay team of Sam Dixson, Wyatt Cary, Adam Shumway and Emerson DuBois (7th, 4:24.71); and the the 4x800M relay team of Sam Dixson, Eisley DuBois, Ian Laird and Izaiah Reynolds (8th, 11:05.81). In the field events, Jackson Slater placed 6th in the weight throw with a State Qualifier standard throw of 42' 10 ½.”
Peter Chuhta was 7th in the shot put (35' 2 1/2”) and 2nd in the weight throw with a distance of 49'11” (also a State Qualifier mark). A day later, at the Ed Cepiel Invite, at Springfield College (MA), Chuhta extended his personal best weight throw mark to 52' 8 ¼”, which is the 3rd best sophomore performance in the event in New York State. Chuhta has also provisionally qualified for the Emerging Elite division of the Nike Indoor Nationals, in New York City.
The GCS girls 4x200M relay team of Hannah Alheim, Julia Sgambelluri, Arriyana Derby and Sarah Radovich blazed to a second place time of 1:53.06 and took down the forty-four year-old school record of 1:53.6, held by Rachel Bain, Allison Goodman, Tracy Somma and Nancy Mason. In doing so, the 2025 team has met the standard to compete at the State Qualifier meet.
But the highlights did not end with the 4x200M record. Julia Sgambelluri rocketed to a 3rd place finish of 45.53 seconds in the 300M and added a 15' 7 1/2” State Qualifier long jump. Arriyana Derby raced to second place in the 55M hurdles with a State Qualifier time of 9.38 seconds. Sarah Radovich leaped to a 16' 3” State Qualifier standard in the long jump; the 4x400M relay team of Ava Aierstok, Catherine Johnson, Giulietta Gargano and Cassidy Carpenter finished in7th place (5:15.56): and in her first weight throw meet, Charlotte Collins placed 4th, with an explosive heave of 29' 9 1/2”.
As the indoor track and field heads towards the latter part of the season, there is cause for great optimism.
Greenwich 4H Country Clovers Helping Cats
The Country Clovers 4H group meeting in December focused on learning about the benefits of native plants and the problems with invasive plants in our area. They plan to help with the trail work, replanting and helping combat invasives at the Hayes Reservoir village park in the coming year.
They also worked on a project to help the efforts of the Witches Kittens, a local group that helps abandoned and feral cats. This organization works on capturing and neutering feral cats and rehoming abandoned kittens. It is a cause group members feels is important; supporting the efforts of protecting, neutering and rehoming cats and raising awareness of the importance of responsible cat ownership. The Country Clovers 4H club built cat shelters for the many feral cats who need a place to stay in the cold winter weather ahead. The group then placed the shelters in a wooded area where a number feral cats live.
Clover member Flynn Anderson, 9, reported: “On 12/1/24 the Greenwich 4H Country Clovers made boxes into homes for feral cats to keep warm for the winter. They were made by taking big plastic totes and some smaller foam coolers. First, we put a foam cooler in a plastic tote and cut holes on two sides of the boxes. Next, we put hay in the cracks and on the bottom of the foam cooler. After that, we cut the bottom of some flower pots off and put the pots in the holes. Then, we glued them on. We used flower pots like a tunnel so that cats can enter on one side and exit out the other. This is how we made warm, dry, and safe winter homes for feral cats.”
Country Clovers members Tracey Anderson, Adilyn Wanya, Maddi Ryan, Ashlin Ryan and Flynn Anderson worked on the cat shelters.
And Now for the Comics — ‘9 to 5’ by Harley Schwadron
And that’s all for today! More tomorrow!