Aye, it's a Taiga.

Not much birding today, with the better weather being a chance to try to patch up the traps a bit (or at least stop the flapping bits from flapping, so the predicted stormy weather at the end of the week will have to work harder to cause any more damage). A quick drive round the island after Kirk saw pretty similar numbers of geese to yesterday, although the bird below was one I'd not seen in the group before.

The size, head and neck shape, bill shape and colour all point towards this being a Taiga Bean Goose, quite a different looking beast to most of the accompanying Tundras (although not all the Bean Geese are clear cut to identify to subspecific level). Nick had seen what may have been the same bird whilst I was away, so it probably isn't a new arrival. Few other birds were noted, with the Great Northern Diver still in North Haven, with Long-tailed Ducks here and Finnequoy and a Red-breasted Merganser also at the latter site. The Obs garden held a couple of Robins, with the first Fieldfare I've seen since I returned also here.
With reasonable weather forecast for tomorrow, we'll get a chance to see if there are any surprises lurking around the island (something like that Desert Wheatear that was found in Lerwick this week would be nice!).