My husband and I birded Black Hill Regional Park /
Little Seneca Lake yesterday afternoon, primarily for
waterfowl. Species and approximate counts are below,
followed by a question regarding possible snow geese
or snow goose hybrids. 

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Ten Mile Creek area:

Canvasback (56+)
American Wigeon (several)
Hooded Merganser (10+)
Ring-necked Ducks (30+)
American Coot (30+)
Ruddy Ducks (several)
Buffleheads (several)
American Black Ducks (30+)
Mallards (4+)
Canada Geese (several)

non-waterfowl highlight: Golden-crowned Kinglet (1)
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Rt. 121 Bridge:

Hooded Merganser (a pair)
Pied-billed Grebe (2+)
Ruddy Duck (several)
Bufflehead (a few)
Common Merganser (several males and females, close to
far shore looking toward Ten Mile Creek area)

Belted Kingfisher (1, male, sitting on small sign at
lake's edge)
Ring-billed Gulls (15+ out on middle of lake)
--

Boat Ramp area:

Hooded Merganser (2 males)
Common Merganser (1 female)
Pied-billed Grebe (2)
Ruddy Duck (several)
American Coot (20+)
Bufflehead (4)
Canada Goose (a few, including an interesting
leucistic or possible hybrid)

... domestic geese

... and possible Snow Geese??? Not a species I'm
familiar with aside from a couple of sightings in
flight. Please see my descriptions below -- I would
appreciate any comments/opinions.

--

Here's my Snow Goose question. As you may know, there
are a couple of domestic white geese along with two
hybrid-Chinese-type geese that are often found at the
boat ramp area of Black Hill. This afternoon, along
with the two domestic white geese and a normal Canada
goose, we found:

... two additional white geese, smaller than the
domestics and with black wing tips. Pink bills, but I
do not recall seeing any black "grin patch" on the
bill as would be expected with a Snow Goose (if I
recall correctly, the bill size/shape fit a Snow
better than a Ross's). One was pure white other than
the pink bill and black wing tips. The second was
identical except for some grayish streaking on the
wings, but no other hint of being a blue phase goose.
Could these be Snow/domestic hybrids, or Snow/Ross's
hybrids? Or related to the goose I'm about to
describe?

... a third unusual goose, who I suspect to be a
domestic/Canada hybrid. Details: Same size as the two
possible snow geese. A brown neck and head, with a
lighter brown face, appearing even lighter (but still
brownish) around the eyes. The bill was pink. The
entire back/wings/flanks/tail were identical to a
Canada, as if this were a very small version of a
Canada with an odd head, neck, and bill. I wish I'd
brought my camera. Any ideas?

And finally, I've noticed that every weekend that I
bird Ten Mile Creek, there's a different large
concentration of waterfowl -- over the past month it
went from 55+ Tundra Swans when the water was
half-iced over, to a large raft of Ring-necked Ducks,
to this weekend's large raft of Canvasbacks. I find
the variety interesting.

Jessica Bruland
Damascus, MD
aderynyreira -at- yahoo.com


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