Hello, Birders. At Loomiller Park in Longmont, Boulder County, this warm, sunny, Sunday afternoon, Jan. 25, Andrew Floyd and I saw a *Greater White-fronted Goose,* an apparent *minima Cackling Goose,* and a small flock of *Common Redpolls.* The rest of the story:
*Greater White-fronted Goose.* It was a straightforward adult. But if you want to see Andrew's startlingly misleading photo (followed by a photo of the bird looking entirely normal), check this out: http://tinyurl.com/GWFG-2015-01-25 *apparent minima Cackling Goose.* Classic case of "expectation bias." I was aware of previous reports from this site of *taverneri* Cackling Goose. So when I saw a different, dark-breasted Cackling Goose, my mind went straight to *taverneri*. But Cathy Sheeter makes a great case that this bird is probably *minima*. Photos, analysis, and comments here: http://tinyurl.com/CacG-2015-01-25 *small flock of Common Redpolls.* Psychologically, 180 degrees opposite the apparent *minima*. With the warm sunshine (temps were pushing 70 in Longmont this afternoon), the *chik-chik-chik* twittering of Common Redpolls was just about the *last* thing I was expecting. We heard, then saw, the birds fly straight over. They landed in a tree, very briefly, then flew off to the north, chippering away. We noticed several catkin-bearing trees in the neighborhood just north of the park, so maybe the birds will stick around. Ted Floyd Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/4860641a-4697-4c9c-99b7-82ebfab956a4%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
