I made a brief stop at Dryden Lake this morning. Lake still mostly ice covered, with an open area (pond) at the north end. A dozen HOODED MERGANSERS, a pair of GADWALL, some MALLARDS, BLACK DUCKS and CANADA GEESE were there. A male COMMON MERGANSER flew by, as did a KILLDEER and KINGFISHER. I was just packing up, when the sound of SNOW GEESE arrested me. A flock came in fairly low from the south with some barking, passed over the pond, and seemed headed on north when there was a very loud disturbance. The flock then wheeled and returned to the pond, landing on the ice. I could be wrong, but my guess is that the leader said (in goose), "Anybody want to stop here?" They did. Once down, I noted the resemblance between goose and human behavior at rest stops.
I counted 92 geese. About a third went immediately to the ice edge and began drinking. A few lay down for a nap. Then about half jumped in and splashed about, bathing. These eventually climbed out to preen, as many of the non-bathing group had been doing. Finally, almost all of them tucked head under wing, and ,standing, prepared to nap. As with humans, there were a couple individuals who drank, washed, preened, barked, or wandered about in contrast to what the large segments were engaged in at any time. Also noted: about 20 CANADAS were on the ice edge when the SNOWS landed. There is apparently some antipathy between these 2 species, as the Canadas, with vociferous insults, swam to the other side of the pond and continued their complaints loudly, before gradually reducing them to grumblings. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
