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December 2011

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From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 6 Dec 2011 10:44:51 -0500
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        I guess I need to reprise some of what I wrote here yesterday. I did
not make black in the gape the most important distinguishing character;
Ross's show a bit of black in the gape, but few would call them black
"lips" as are attributed to pure snow geese. A hybrid likely would show
something in between. I also mentioned overall size, shape of the
bill-join, and offered *average* lengths arrived at through years of
study by Bellrose, someone who had a lot of goose-droppings on his boots
and knew how to arrive at such numbers; his measurements of *extreme*
lengths of specimens of lesser snow geese and Ross's geese do not
overlap, either. But really good size comparisons are lacking in the
photos, where both mallards and lesser snow geese are absent.
        I also offered photos of the heads of geese species from known-identity
museum specimens; thus far only one person has asked to see them.  But
here are some exceptionally clear views of overall head & bill shape &
size of living birds, including hybrids, via photos by David Roemer from
a bit farther down the flyway in Kentucky at
http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos/goose_id.htm
I appeal to viewers to ask themselves if the second photo, of Ross's,
resembles the bird under discussion (close-up of the bird in the water
in Matt Valencic's post of 12/4), rather than the third one, the hybrid.
        Roemer also shows a dark line extending from the eye to the bill,
calling it characteristic of juvenal plumage among migrants; it is
entirely absent in the goose in question, making me wonder if ours is a
bird of the year. To my eyes, Matt's photo of the bird on the water
facing right shows a bill that (despite its relatively vertical join
with the head) looks bulbous, entirely too bulky for a Ross's, an
anomaly Jay seems to acknowledge as well.
Bill Whan
Columbus
also see companion shots of both species and the hybrid at
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/rossgoos.htm
and see if the Ashtabula bird really looks dainty enough.

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