Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 15:34:04 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Stasz Subject: Re: Barnacle Goose MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks! I photographed the Barnacle Goose along Jesterville Rd., Wicomico Co. MD last Saturday, 2/12/2000. In addition to taking a few pictures I spent time looking at other details. The Barnacle Goose is unbanded and has unclipped toes. The adult Blue Goose is unbanded and has unclipped toes. 188 of the Canada Geese, all of the eastern migratory subspecies, were unbanded [this is not the entire flock, but a substantial portion of it]. Conventional wisdom, as stated in the National Geographic Field Guide and in Lives of North American Birds by Ken Kaufman, is that most Barnacle Geese seen on this continent have probably escaped from captivity. While many aviary birds are banded and had their toes clipped, this is not true for all. Wild birds of course will not have clipped toes and many, but not all, will be unbanded. Like the Tufted Duck currently being seen in the Potomac and other species found in aviaries, i.e., Pink-footed Goose, Bean Goose, which are potential wild strays, the lack of proof pointing to either wild origin or aviary escapee is the norm. Some will fret: "Can I Count It?". Lacking proof one way or the other, when all of the facts are collected and a fair evaluation made, is the likelihood that the bird is of wild origin significantly higher than that of being an aviary escapee? That is the crucial question for my personal list. I encourage everyone to take a look at the Tufted Duck and the Barnacle Goose and the circumstances of their occurrence. Good Birding! Jim Jim Stasz North Beach MD jlstasz@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================