Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 18:14:24 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Sherry Peruzzi Subject: Re: Out, out damned goose... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Norm, may I post one more message about the goose in order to thank a birder who helped us find it? I don't know her name or even if she's a Marylander or reads this list, but just in case I'd like to try to let her know how much we appreciate her help. Ken, my husband and birding partner, and I drove down from Columbia to Cameron Run Regional Park this morning. We arrived about 11:30, finding the park easily thanks to the excellent directions that Michael Bowen posted last Friday. But once we got into the parking lot, we realized that we didn't have a clue as to where in the large lot to park to start looking for the goose. We finally decided to park near the pool, and soon found the miniature golf course. We walked from one end to the other, but couldn't see a lake or river or anywhere a flock of geese would be, so we walked back to the parking lot trying to decide where else to go. We had printouts of the other posts with us, and thought we'd try to find one of those spots. As we were walking back to our car, probably looking as confused as we felt, a woman drove into the lot. When she saw our binoculars, she stopped, opened her window and called out, "Are you looking for The Goose?" When we said yes, she said, "It's just down the street -- turn left on Eisenhower and it's in a flock of geese on the grass just opposite the blinker light, right out by the road. It's easy to see! Go, hurry up!" We raced to our car, drove out, and saw a small flock of geese on the left just past where the mini-golf course ends. We found the small parking lot by the lake (next to the townhouses), which we hadn't known about because it's past the entrance to the park. We jumped out and ran back toward the flock of geese. And yes! There among 28 Canadas feeding on the grass was the Barnacle Goose, just as our anonymous benefactor had said. The geese were still there when we left about 20 minutes later, feeding calmly on the grass, completely unbothered by either the joggers who ran by on the path a few feet away or by us standing there on the grass watching and taking pictures. If the birder who called out to us hadn't taken the initiative to do so, we would probably have gone down to the Eisenhower Avenue bridge and completely missed the Barnacle Goose, a life bird for both of us. As novice birders, Ken and I rediscover again and again how friendly and helpful the birding community is. If you are reading this and recognize yourself, please know that volunteering your help made all the difference to us! And Norm, I also appreciate your allowing me to post this in case whoever it is reads this list. Sherry Peruzzi Columbia, Howard County bookworms@home.com Saunders_N wrote: > A short article in the 2 February 2002 issue of The Economist discusses a > report by Robert Fleischer et al which has just been published in the > Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report examines Canada > Goose taxonomy, as well as the taxonomy of the Nene and two other > now-extinct goose species from the Hawaiian Islands. > > Dr. Fleischer finds that the Nene and the two extinct goose species were > closely related (not surprisingly) but have also been discovered to be mere > subspecies of the Canada Goose. Another goose species that Fleischer lumps > in with this subgoup of our too-familiar Canada Goose is the Barnacle Goose. > Read this and weep, oh ye Virginia birders...grin. > > And now, having gotten that off my chest, shall we leave further discussion > of the Barnacle Goose to the Virginia lists and turn back to Maryland? > Thank you... > > ===================================== > Norman C. Saunders > Colesville, Montgomery County, MD > marshhawk@att.net > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================