Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 13:55:42 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Very small form Canada at Belle Haven MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hi all -- Barry and I were looking for the dreaded B******* Goose today, yes we searched Virginia sites but we really hoping to find it in Maryland waters. No luck (goosed again!) We searched through about 500 Canadas at Belle Haven, most admittedly in Virginia but some in Maryland. The most interesting bird seen was a very small Canada Goose, Ross' Goose size, with all the characteristics of Cackling Canada (B. canadensis minima) based on an admittedly rather cursory review of Sibley, Nat. Geo Guide, and (at home) the recent article Dec. 2001 Birding World on separating the subspecies of Canada Goose. (Note, this is was in a *British* mag) Salient features: 1) Very small size, about 1/2 length of normal Canadas next to it. 2) Very small bill (stubby, rather like that of Ross' Goose). 3) Very dark coloration, especially on the breast which was dark brown with almost a red-purplish tone, no real distinct contrast between base of black neck collar and top of breast. The whole color was dark overall, but with pale edging on mantle and scapulars. 4) A very indistinct but "real" suggestion of a pale ring, or rather, a row of pale feathers at base of neck collar, visible from the front with Questar at highest mag. We had this bird for quite some time at about 150 yards, in a Kowa 824, and Questar, in excellent light. Would be interesting in the opinion of others who may see this bird. I (Gail) have seen Cackling Canada in California on their wintering grounds, but it was 12 years ago and there were no eastern-type Canadas for comparison in any case. (Note: The BW article said that Cackling Canadas are, in the UK, the most common form in captivity, although whether this is at all true in the USA is unknown to me.) Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper Colesville, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================