Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 14:27:37 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul Subject: Big, white Non-Snow Goose & Black Scoters in DC MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As Rob Hilton mentioned earlier, I was at Kenilworth Park (and Aquatic Gardens and Arboretum) this (Sat, 12/2) morning with Craig Tumer. There were about 1,000 Canada Geese at Kenilworth Park, along with a big, white goose. My immediate reaction was that it was the Snow Goose that Bill Dobbins reported from that area a few days ago. But upon closer inspection we realized that it wasn't a Snow after all. In fact we're really not sure what it was, probably some mixed blood barnyard thing. It's about the same size as the Canadas, almost all white, with some irregular gray feathers scattered throughout. We didn't see it flying, so I don't know what the wing pattern is like. Birds of interest include the Horned Lark and American Pipits that Rob mentioned. Lots of sparrows (the usual assortment, but no Fox or Tree), bluebirds (all Eastern), and House and Am. Goldfinches, but nothing out of the ordinary. Ducks at KAG included about 20 Green-winged Teal, and about 5 Pintail. There were also 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the Anacostia, opposite Anacostia Park. The Arb was pretty quiet, nothing noteworthy. After getting a call from Rob about the 2 Black Scoters, we went to Hains (at the tip/Awakening), and refound them at about noon. We didn't see them on our initial scans, but Craig located them flying upriver. They obligingly landed directly opposite us (though closer to the VA side), and fed and swam for a bit. We didn't stick around too long. Good birding, Paul Pisano Professional Scofflaw and Sometime Birder Arlington, VA cheep@erols.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================