Hello!

I continue to have good luck with geese.  I went down the road to another
local lake out here in Hilliard trying to relocate the Cackling Goose, after
not seeing it at my own neighborhood pond all day yesterday.  I very quickly
refound the Cackling Goose.  I must point out that there are a lot of what I
would call the Lesser subspecies (Branta canadensis parvipes) of Canada
Goose mixed in among the "Commons" (Branta canadensis interior).  But the
Cackling Goose is obvious.  He sticks out like a sore thumb when you see
it.  Besides being much smaller overall, the head, neck, and bill shape are
so different.  By the way, I must excuse myself for my last post when I
called the Cackling Goose a "Hutchinson's"--I meant to say Richardson's or
Hutchin's (Richardson's Canada Goose used to be Branta canadensis
hutchinsii, and Cackling Goose is now Branta hutchinsii.  Don't ask me why
two different people's names are attached to the same subspecies...)
Anyways, I was scanning the rest of the geese (probably 200-300ish) out on
the water, and spotted 2 adult Greater White-fronted Geese further out near
the back of the lake (the Cackling was pretty close to the road on the
water).  I saw them very well with binoculars, and am sure they were not
simply Greylag Geese.  I could easily make out the white flank line and
blackish coloring on face just behind the white front by the base of
the pinkish bill.  Beautiful birds--I haven't seen one since the early
nineties up on Puget Sound when I lived near Seattle!   So the location of
this pond is just west of the intersection of Spindler Rd & Nike Dr.  There
is a little dirt turnout where you can park and easily scope out the water
even without getting out of the car if you want.  I'm going to try and get
back over there to get some pictures, but my camera isn't that great.  If
the pictures are decent I'll post them.  Hope you're all enjoying the
Christmas/holiday season!

-Nate Nye
Hilliard

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