Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 09:14:16 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Greg Miller Subject: the "other" goose chase (long and woeful) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Last night I got a call from Kyle Rambo about the Greater White-fronted Geese in Park Hall. So this morning, I decided to check for the geese before going to work (to make up time for our snow day ). I pulled out of my driveway and noticed a large flock of Canada Geese across the road. I pulled down Ingleside Rd and viewed the 700-800 geese feeding in the snow. What if the White-fronted Geese were in this flock? That would be so cool. I wondered if I could ID the birds from the end of my drive. But there was nothing to worry about. No White-fronteds. Nada. I turned around beyond the geese and made one more pass. This time my scanning of Canada Geese near Greenwell St Pk _finally_ turned up a different goose! I noted its grayer color, lack of black neck and white face. A few markings were on the upper neck and barring on the flanks. I carefully noted its position in the flock and hastily drove back to the end of my driveway, jumped out of the vehicle, made a quick scan and immediately found the goose. White-fronted Goose for the yard list? Yippee. I was elated. My heart was racing as I raced back to the house, unlocked the door, fumbled through my camera bag, checked for film, and flew back out to the truck. Zoom! Back to the field. Would the goose still be there? It was still there and much to my delight, much closer! These will make GREAT shots, I thought proudly. Already, I was pondering who to call as I focused the camera and clicked off the first couple shots. Suddenly the bird turn and faced me and for the first time I realized I had never seen any of the characteristic black splotches on the belly! Oh, my! Now the two parts of my mind were in wild argument. One throws caution to the wind and thinks of all the wild possibilities. The other is the voice of caution. Both can over-react at any time and cause a misidentification. Clean belly? Was it an immature? Having lived in Oklahoma for several years, I've seen plenty of White-fronted Geese. This one just didn't settle in my mind as a White-fronted Goose. I shot another couple mindless pictures as my mind was working. And look how LARGE this goose is... Uh, oh. And pinkish-orange bill and legs. Luckily I remembered that White-fronteds are roughly similar in size to Canadas. Pink-footed Geese are much smaller. Hmmm. Attu wasn't that long ago. What about that large Bean Goose? Right on the order of size. Wrong bill and leg color, and instead of being browner, this bird was grayer. I paused as I took a shot of a Canada Goose with snow all over its face, giving it a Barnacle Goose appearance. Cool. But the caution side of my mind was winning the unusual goose argument. I knew better. Now it was falling into place. I've seen a goose like this before. But where? Then I remembered. Aha! Cape May. Couple years ago in the little pond in the Meadow...Greylag Goose. That's it. DRAT! Foiled again! Unfortunately, Greylag Geese occuring in the wild here in North America would be one of the most difficult things to prove in the birding world. I may as well have snapped photos of some bird in an aviary. Oh, well. The bird looks to be unbanded and no wear on the feet is apparent. So much for this "wild" goose chase... -humbled in Hollywood Greg Miller __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================