Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 10:59:26 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> From: Thomas Stock <TSTOCK@FMSHRC.GOV> Subject: Re: Out, out damned goose... Comments: To: mdosprey@ARI.Net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline In my over thirty years of birding, I've seen several shifts in fashion - lumpy back in the seventies, when all Flickers, for example, became a single species, and Oregon Junco dropped off all our life lists (and Ipswich Sparrow and Bullock's Oriole and etc....). Now ornithological hemlines are decidedly splitty. I would be shocked if the AOU lumped the B******* Goose with the Canada Goose (Gail's message only drives home this point). I mean, just look what the AOU did with the Sharp-tailed Sparrow! My other comment is on reports of a - gasp - Virginian B******* Goose on MDOsprey. I for one appreciate and relish any such reports - and am still champing at the bit to get over and see the B*******. Norm, I could be mistaken, but I thought this listserve you so kindly and graciously emcee is for the convenience of Maryland birders, not just a forum on Maryland birds. If there's a rare bird just over the border in Virginia, potentially within the reach of thousands of Maryland birders, what's the point of failing to keep tabs on it? This just penalizes those Maryland birders who couldn't get out to see the bird as soon as the retirees on the list who could go see it whenever. So I take heartfelt exception to your ban (or is it just a request? hard to tell...) on B******* Goose=20 reports. BTW, if anyone sees the bird today or tomorrow,=20 I would love to hear from you, off list if necessary! I am: Tom Stock, Silver Spring tstock@fmshrc.gov (work) altomomatic@aol.com (home) Please post to both addresses. I'm going to try to take a morning off work before the weekend to see this Barnacle Goose (there, I said it... so sue me...). >>> Gail Mackiernan <gail@MDSG.UMD.EDU> 02/05/02 05:01PM >>> Hi - The plot thickens when we read that the Europeans have now split the large Canada forms from the smaller forms. Norm, we *did* try to find the B******* Goose in Maryland -- last week 100s of Canadas were off Jones Point (and this is when the B******* was = being seen at Belle Haven), during an extreme low tide. Alas, no B******* could be located. We will keep trying! Cheers, Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, 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... > =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================