I went looking for the Tundra Bean-Goose again this afternoon (see the prior article), along with one of my young grandsons. The light was much better than yesterday which meant a lower ISO setting on the camera and a lot less digital noise than at ISO 6400 late yesterday afternoon. That would mean better photos.

I saw a bunch of cars at the Big G Lake parking lot. Since the parking lot is usually empty that was a good sign. I went there and they told me it had been on the grassy area between the lake and the soccer field, but it had wandered off in the direction of the soccer field and out of sight. So I did the obvious thing and drove to the soccer field.

Over at the soccer field I met Paul from the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. He had driven down to Lamoni to find the goose. He was watching the goose through his spotting scope. It was at the far end of the soccer field. After taking some photos through the back of his spotting scope with his phone, he was happy and left to drive back home. The Tundra Bean-Goose has been hanging out in the Lamoni area all week with our local Canada Geese and 120 Canada Geese were on the soccer field. I texted a friend who is an avid local photographer and told him to get to The Razz right away.

Tundra Bean-Goose and Canada Geese, The Razz soccer field, Graceland University.

I could get half way around the soccer field without spooking the geese. That would get me closer and give me a better camera angle. My friend arrived, and he, my young grandson, and I had a great time, although my grandson was more interested in finding goose feathers than seeing a rare goose.

Topaz before and after. Click for a larger version.

Even at ISO 800 there is some digital noise in the images so I processed the image at the top of this article with Topaz Sharpen AI to get rid of most of the noise. That gave me a cleaner image. Click on the “before and after” image to see a larger size and get a better idea of the difference the software made.

I have no idea how long this rare goose will be in our area. It could hang around for a few days or weeks, or be gone tomorrow. It isn’t every day you can see a goose that should be 4,000 miles or more away in Northern Europe or Northern Russia. If you are coming to Lamoni to see it, come sooner rather than later. In addition to Big G Lake east of Lamoni, it hangs out at Lake LaShane northwest of Lamoni, and farm ponds and fields in the area. Check out the two lakes and look for clusters parked on country roads.

Lamoni Iowa Lakes. Click for a larger version.

Lake La Shane is northwest of Lamoni. Go west on Main Street (J55), north on Elk Chapel Road (R18), and west on 280th Street (J52). Right before you get to the small bridge across Lake LaShane, turn left on the dirt road to an unfinished parking circle/area. If it looks muddy, park on 280th Street near the small bridge.

Big G Lake is in the southeast corner of town. Go east on Main Street and South on Smith Street (R30). There is a parking lot next to Smith St. Geese have not been hanging out at Home Lake (also known locally as Home Pond), so the Tundra Bean-Goose has not been spotted there.