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Re: Greater White-fronted Goose in Chestertown 15 Oct '10

From:

Amanda Spears

Reply-To:

Amanda Spears

Date:

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:01:29 -0400

Haha that's funny, I was just writing my email for the Greater White-fronted
Goose I had at the WWTP this evening when I got Walter's post!

 I also noticed this bird's bright orange bill and was questioning if this
is an indicator for the Greenland race.  After doing some research (
http://sibleyguides.blogspot.com/2008/11/more-on-identification-of-greenland.html),
I learned that bill color is not a definitive field mark in distinguishing a
North American bird from a Greenland one. I also understand from the article
that this distinction is fairly hard, so I was wondering....does anyone has
more info about the differences in GWFG subspecies, or am I looking into
this too much?

Anyway, here's the rest of my count for today....

Location:     Great Oak Pond
Observation date:     10/16/10
Notes:     bad lighting
Number of species:     12

Snow Goose     500     FOS, 7 blues
Canada Goose     2500
Gadwall     6
Mallard     25
Northern Shoveler     3
Green-winged Teal (American)     457     counted carefully
Ring-necked Duck     1
Ruddy Duck     120
Turkey Vulture     3
Bald Eagle     2
Horned Lark     1
Tree Swallow     8

Location:     Chestertown WWTP
Observation date:     10/16/10
Number of species:     18

Greater White-fronted Goose     1     Located on NE edge of lagoon with
CAGO. Looked orange-billed. Later watched it jump down to swim with other
geese.
Snow Goose     1
Canada Goose     1500     quickly scanned for Cackling.
Mallard     12
Northern Shoveler     80
Green-winged Teal (American)     11
Canvasback     1
Ring-necked Duck     4
Ruddy Duck     400     Counted carefully.
Turkey Vulture     2
Killdeer     3
Laughing Gull     35
Ring-billed Gull     4
Caspian Tern     11     perched on pipes.
Blue Jay     1
American Crow     8
European Starling     25
Red-winged Blackbird     1

Amanda Spears
Chestertown, MD


On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 5:21 PM, Nancy Martin <>wrote:

>  Hi All,
>
> Sorry for the 24-hr delay in getting this out. Intermittent internet
> (especially last evening) and a CPR class this morning got in the way.
>
> Yesterday afternoon (15 Oct '10) at 5:15 PM Nancy and I had an adult
> Greater White-fronted Goose at the Chestertown Treatment Plant as viewed
> from John Hanson Road. It was in a family group that included two Canada X
> Greater White-fronted Goose hybrids (presumably this year's offspring) and a
> Canada Goose. Also present were a Cackling Goose, a Snow Goose, 34
> shovelers, 150 Ruddy Ducks, 19 Killdeer, and 5 Caspian Terns.
>
> More information on ID and a full list from e-bird are appended below.
>
> Good birding,
>
> Walter Ellison (& Nancy Martin)
>
> Chestertown, MD
>
> 410-778-9568
>
> Observing Nature is like unwrapping a big pile of presents every time you
> take a walk.
>
> Location:     Chestertown WWTP
> Observation date:     10/15/10
> Notes:     Some quick birding stops are better than others. Partly cloudy,
> breezy W wind 10-15 mph, 60 deg F. Second observer: Nancy Martin. Excellent
> late afternoon lighting. White-fronted goose was an adult with prominent
> white frontal patch, bright orange bill, belly bars visible along flanks as
> it swam, black ring-tail pattern with white rump and tail tip, yodeling
> flight call as it left treatment plant with its interspecies family. Two
> hybrids intermediate in jizz with more tapered bills and more slender necks
> than GWFG. Necks blackish with medium gray (not white) chin straps (form
> like CANG), small white patches along the top of the bills, some orange on
> dark bills' bases, dark chests like GWFG (unlike CANG's pale chest), more
> olive brown ground color than Canada. Adult Canada Goose associated with the
> 2 hybrids and the white-front. They all left together at 5:25 PM.
> Number of species:     17
>
> Greater White-fronted Goose (Greenland)     1
> Greater White-fronted x Canada Goose (hybrid)     2
> Snow Goose     1
> Cackling Goose (Richardson's)     1
> Canada Goose     800
> Mallard     4
> Northern Shoveler     34
> Ruddy Duck     150
> Black Vulture     4
> Turkey Vulture     18
> Killdeer     19
> Laughing Gull     3
> Ring-billed Gull     11
> Caspian Tern     5
> European Starling     80
> Savannah Sparrow     1
> Red-winged Blackbird     80
> Common Grackle     280
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
>