Michael Viney answers your queries and observations on nature
On June 4th I saw an unusual goose on the foreshore. It had pink legs, grey underbody, brown barred wings and back. The neck was fawn coloured with a dark ridge running up the back of the neck to the head and beak, which were almost black. There was no white on the head, neck or anywhere else.
Peter Lawson, Crosshaven, Co Cork
It was a pink-footed goose, an uncommon but regular winter visitor mainly to the northern part of the country and the Wexford Slobs. It should have returned to Iceland in April.
A bird chasing a tern flew over my head on Tramore Beach. It was about the size and colour of an immature herring gull, with pale underparts and blackish from the neck up. The needle-like protrusion of the central tail feathers indicated that it was a skua, but which one?
Catherine Twomey, Co Waterford
It was an Arctic skua, which is a passage migrant here between April and October. Piratical skuas attack terns and gulls to force them to disgorge the fish in their crops, which they then catch in the air.
Send observations to Michael Viney, Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo; e-mail: viney@anu.ie (include a postal address)