Cackling Goose is my Maryland nemesis species. Inspired by Bob Ringler's
post of seeing 5 Cacklers at Westminster Reservoir, Gail Frantz, Paul
Noell, and I zipped out there Tuesday morning.
When we arrived, there was just one Canada Goose - which is more than
we've gotten on some of these quests. Soon, though, about 200 geese flew
in. We combed through them carefully but couldn't come up with anything
close to a Cackling Goose. There were essentially the same other
waterfowl there as Bob had, including Hoodies, Ruddies, PB Grebes, and
Bufflehead.
Gail, wisely, went home. Paul and I then went to Bennett Cerf Pond, the
Sunshine Way pond, the Westminster Community Pond, and the Farm Museum
pond. Except for the Community Pond, there were about 100 geese at each
pond. But, of course, no Cackling Goose. We were too discouraged to
attempt to find out where the Humane Society pond (where Bob had seen
500 Canada Geese) is. When I got home, mapquest says it is a few miles
north of Westminster and the airport on Route 97, but I don't see a pond
in mapquest's aerial image. Maybe I'll check it out next time. But I
hesitate to spoil my perfect record.
Steve Sanford
Randallstown MD
scartan ^at^ verizon ^dot^ net |