Wow again! Today while making a quick round of the Olentangy River adjacent to the Ohio Wesleyan campus here in Delaware, I stopped by Mingo Park, just northeast of the campus. This was at 4pm. See here- http://tinyurl.com/y8oz7zm Immediately I noticed an extremely small goose amongst a flock of about 60 Canadas, only about 50 yards away on the other shore. I held my binoculars up and saw there were 4 more! Skeptical of my identification at this point (only because 5 Cackling Geese is hard to believe!), I called Jack Stenger and Dr. Jed Burtt, who quickly arrived on the scene. I took notes and sketches on the bird while they were driving over. After viewing the birds for quite some time, we determined that these birds really were puny enough and proportioned correctly to be Cackling Geese. Here are some things I jotted down about the birds: -little pushed-in bill, extremely small and thick at the base -no neck, the bird appeared to have just a head on the body when swimming -when swimming, the top of the head was about the height of the top of the back -only 10-20% larger than Mallards in the area -very pale breast (indicating Richardsonšs Cackling Goose) -cute, big-eyed However, herešs the catch. I patiently waited, without disturbing the geese, until dark. About 20 minutes before sunset, the entire flock took flight and headed south. I tracked them as best as I could, but it seemed they continued. Will they roost in a field tonight and return tomorrow? Or simply continue south? Išll post an update tomorrow if no one else searches for these cute little guys. Good birding, Sean --- Sean Williams, '11 Undergraduate of Ornithology of Dr. Jed Burtt Ohio Wesleyan University HWCC 724 Delaware, OH 43015 617-470-4094 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]