A quick visit to Montezuma on Saturday, 13 Nov 10, after a brief glimpse of the McGraw Summer Tanager turned only a few interesting birds, although the day was glorious.
A flock of 12 SNOW BUNTINGS was foraging in the dark hummocks of Benning Marsh. Know-Marcellus, as viewed from East Road, had a large group of Snow Geese that included at least one white Ross's x Snow Goose (smaller, stubby bill with noticeably curved base, and grin patch). I also found a BLUE Ross's x Snow Goose, which was new for me. The bird was near the edge of the flock, surrounded by white birds and beside a normal Blue Goose, but then disappeared foraging into thick smartweed and was not found again. The brief look I had showed an all dark neck with the dark extending up onto the back of the head and up to the throat on the ventral side. From head to back were the same dark blackish, not shading as in a Blue Goose. The effect was of a dark head and neck with a white face, not a white head and upper neck like a blue Snow. I did not see the belly as it was either walking away from me or had its belly covered in smartweed. The bill was not small and triangular enough for it to be a pure Ross's. As luck would have it, I had just been looking at some photos of similar birds on my son Jay's website the day before and was primed to pick this guy out of a crowd. The all extra-dark neck and back just jumped out at me. I did not manage to get even a bad photo of the bird. A photo of a similar bird in a similar comparison as I had it with a Blue Goose can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/jmcgowan57/ChurchillManitobaJune2009Part1#5350978527156773618. Jay also has photos of real Blue Ross's in that gallery for comparison. As I said, it was a new form for me. Kevin -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
