White-fronted Goose(?)/Black Hill Park

daniel.eberly@gsa.gov
14 Dec 98 11:17:00 -0500


--UNS_gsauns2_3014124405
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Disposition: inline

 
     Hi gang, 
     
     The goose that I saw with a flock of Canada Geese at Black Hill Park 
     on December 6 had the following features: (1) Overall brown coloration 
     rather than buffy, no white face pattern and no dark belly barring; 
     (2) Orange bill without any large protuberances and did not appear to 
     be disproportionately large (about Canada Goose size vs. swan size); 
     (3) Orange legs and feet - the goose was swimming in an area with 
     standing and fallen dead trees and had to walk on a fallen tree trunk 
     to reach another open swimming area - its feet and legs were fully 
     exposed; (4) About the body size of the Canada Geese; (5) High pitched 
     flight call clearly heard when it flew (its flight path was low, 
     towards me, but slightly to the side and than low away) with a flock 
     of Canada Geese - not a barnyard or Canada Goose honk.  The goose was 
     well seen during good light with 10x binoculars - about 100-150 feet 
     away while in the water. For those that know the area or would like to 
     look for it, I observed it from the stone/dirt jetty type structure 
     that juts into the water on the other side of the road from the boat 
     ramp.  It was feeding in the grasses near the far bank and then was 
     swimming among the standing and fallen dead trees for about a total of 
     10 minutes. It was not in the open water between the jetty structure 
     and the road. This Sunday I revisited the same area and only saw 
     Hooded Mergansers and Mallards.  Next to the boat ramp, about 100+ 
     yards away from where I saw the goose, were 5 obviously domestic geese 
     (They approached me for food.), not the same bird I saw - buffy in 
     basic coloration, larger bodies and heads, some with black bills and 
     some with orange bills, orange legs, larger/heavier bills. Your 
     comments or questions are encouraged. Happy birding, Dan Eberly 

--UNS_gsauns2_3014124405--