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)
> |