Cynthia Bravo and I saw the Ross's Goose at Merkle late this afternoon in the 
fields behind the visitor's center.  The bird was fairly distant at first, in the 
field between the pond and a row of evergreens.  It was feeding in some taller 
grass, and disappeared from viewed when it bent over to feed or went into a 
lower lying area.  However, we watched the bird walk slowly to the right and 
we gradually got more unobstructed views.  

Eventually, the goose walked down to the pond and swam about with the 
much larger Canada Geese, offering great views of its bill, size and overall 
structure.  In all, I watched the bird from around 3:00 PM until about 3:45.  At 
this point, it swam to one corner of the pond that was out of sight, and I 
didn't see it again.  But, I don't think that it left the area.

According to Cynthia, the bird either was out of view or not present during 
the early afternoon.  Late afternoon may be a good time to check for the bird, 
as a lot of geese seem to arrive at the small pond and surrounding fields 
towards the end of the day.  Thank you to Greg for finding this bird, Jeff for 
posting about it, and my boss for signing a late afternoon leave slip.

Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS