This afternoon at Piney Run Park there were more geese to look at than
the past two days. I only looked at the birds in the main body of the lake
opposite the boat ramp. The numbers below are very rough estimates of the
birds I saw and there were certainly more birds on other parts of the lake.

Snow Goose  1 mostly white bird with some irregular black marks on head and
body, very strange-looking

*Blue Goose X Canada Goose*  1, that's my best estimate of this odd bird
that looks superficially like a Barnacle Goose and somewhat like an adult
Blue Goose also. The head is mostly white and the neck black. The body is
mostly gray-brown like a Canada but the wing coverts have the white edges
of a Blue Goose. It also appeared to have a grinning patch like a Snow
Goose and the size appeared average for a Canada. I do not know if this is
the bird previously reported as a Barnacle Goose but it is worth
considering. A bird of similar plumage was here a year ago and also
appeared to be a hybrid. Another stayed at Cranberry Reservoir for over a
year in 2003-2004.

Canada Goose  1,000
Gadwall  4
Baldpate  20
Black Duck  9
Mallard  20
Canvasback  4
Redhead  9
Ring-necked Duck  25
Bufflehead  8
Hooded Merganser  6
Common Merganser  4
Ruddy Duck  10
Pied-billed Grebe  7
Great Blue Heron  2
Bald Eagle  2 adults, looking very chummy, have never nested here but have
at nearby Liberty Lake
Coot  25
Ring-billed Gull  1

-- 
Bob Ringler
Eldersburg MD

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