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Adult Greater White-fronted Goose at Schoolhouse Pond

From:

Fred Shaffer

Reply-To:

Fred Shaffer

Date:

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 13:13:24 -0500

Most of the ice is gone from Schoolhouse Pond, so there was no huge group of gulls to sort through.  I checked to see what else was around during my lunchtime walk and while sorting through a big group of Canada Geese, I came across an adult Greater White-fronted Goose.  The bird was swimming (and mostly sleeping) towards the middle of the pond mixed in with the Canada Geese.  The bird had the very well delineated and visible white area around the entire base of the bill and it appeared slightly smaller than the surrounding Canada Geese.  I do not believe that it was present this morning.

For those who try to see this bird, please keep in mind that there are a large number of Graylag Geese at the pond, so make sure that you are looking at an actual wild bird and not one of the inbreed geese that are always in the area.  The white around the face, size, and proportions of the GWFG is significantly different from the Graylag Geese, which are much chunkier with an unnaturally large pot belly (All the graylag/domestic geese were loitering in front of the County Administration Building today).

This is the second Greater White-fronted Goose that I've had at the pond, with the previous bird occuring at the end of December 2005.   Good birding,

Fred Shaffer
Crofton, Anne Arundel