Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 19:14:08 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Robert Ringler Subject: Re: Migrant Waterfowl, HowCo MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Kurt, I have just taken a close look at Sherrie's photos of the small goose at Centennial. Only the lower photo has a good profile of the bill. It is not one of the small races such as Richardson's Goose. It does not have the short stubby bill of the small races. Though the bird is small it is not small enough and the neck is not short enough. I went to Centennial yesterday to study the geese and saw several of these small birds, especially around the boat ramp. Though they were noticeably smaller than surrounding birds they did not fit the criteria for one of the small races. Unfortunately there seems to be a great variation in size of the resident geese in particular; more so than I notice in migratory flocks. Bob Ringler > There were possibly two small race Canadas. I noticed one to the > right of the boat ramp, appeared about 2/3 size of nearby Canadas. I > took this for Sherrie's bird from last week, and frankly, didn't pay > much attention. But > I did notice in the wildlife area another bird, again roughly 2/3 size > of the others, with a stubbier bill, very flat crown, and much steeper forehead > than the other Canadas. The breast appeared browner. The forehead > looked like the illustration of the Richardson's variety in Sibley. > In any case, relooking a Sherrie's photo, this was not the same bird. > The forehead and bill juncture were completely different. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================