Hello,

I've been watching the influx and efflux of geese from the pond across the
street from my house all day today.  Until about half an hour ago, there
were just a lot of "maxima" Canada Geese.  Now on the pond are about 200
geese, and a large percentage (I'm going to venture a rough guess at 30%) of
them are actually the "interior" Canada Goose subspecies.  They are clearly
smaller than the maxima Canadas and have a slightly different head shape.
They are not Cackling Geese, however they did bring with them at least 1
(possibly 2) "Richardson's" Cackling Goose.  There is a second goose that is
smaller than the interior Canadas, but is not as convincing as the first
bird, and I cannot rule out parvipes or taverneri at this time.  I took some
pictures (again, I'm far from a good photographer, and camera is not great)
but rather than delay this posting to upload them, I'll post them in a
little while on the Ohiobirds.org forum.

The address is the intersection of Crystalpond Dr. and Spindler Rd.  Knowing
that many of you are way more experienced than* *I am, I would still just
caution anyone not to jump to conclusions on "smaller" white-cheeked geese.
There are a lot of "interior" Canadas out there that are smaller than the
maximas most of us are used to.  What I've found is that if I have to wonder
whether a goose is a Cackling or not, it is probably NOT.

Good birding everyone!

Nate Nye
Hilliard, OH

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