Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 09:50:24 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bob Mumford Subject: Re: Oddities at Violetts Lock MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Last week I twice reported seeing a Snow Goose flying with a pair of Canada's. On Sunday, and again on Tuesday, the bird was in the water feeding, first in the canal and then in the river. I am now not quite so sure of the identity and would like to hear other's opinions. For Snow Goose: shape, size and overall appearance. Head and neck white, back light grey, legs and feed pink. Also, strong flying, indicating a wild bird. Against: bill color is pink with a black tip (possibly changing from juv black to adult pink). Seems to lack the bill gape that distinguishes Snows from Ross's. Also lacks black wing tips, that again might suggest a bird from last spring evolving to full adult appearance. Also at Violets I have twice seen a doe that is partially albino, showing a mostly white rump and some white on sides extending up from belly. Yesterday there were at least 28 Common Mergs in the river just downstream from the lock. Bob Mumford Darnestown ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================