Howdy yall, I've been intently watching for geese since the semester started in an attempt to join the goose parade. Finally, I was rewarded with several flocks and hundreds of geese (about 610, not nearly the record, but much more than last week). The first rare goose was a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, an adult with the jagged smattering of black on the belly, white around the base of the bill, and 3/4 the size of the Canadas. At the same time, another flock flew by, containing a single CACKLING GOOSE (almost duck-sized, petite bill). Lastly, from a distance I saw a flock with 9 white geese flying toward me, and got very excited! However, my excitement was somewhat extinguished as I saw almost all were purely white (no white wingtips = domestics). However, one remained to be a DARK-PHASE SNOW GOOSE, with a white belly, white neck and head, and dark wings, breast, and collar. I also noted white on the scapulars. One of the domestic geese was HUGE! Imagine 1.5x the size of a Canada, with a very thick neck. It was white and gray. Additionally, it appears that much of the same geese are still around the Olentangy today (1/17), though the white-fronted is the only rarity I've seen today. Goose 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]