I believe this did not make it onto the list serve when I sent it out this morning. Apologies if it is a duplicate.
Also photos from this post can be seen at : https://picasaweb.google.com/117391989476777248424/NewYorkBirds2015#
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Yesterday, after hearing news of Pat and Shai's Pink- footed Goose in Riverhead, my mom and I abandoned our planned route along Dune Rd to chase the goose. We never did find the PFGO yesterday but had an enjoyable day filled with great geese.
As I reported, we had a Ross's Goose (probably Derek Rogers bird), a 'Blue' Snow Goose, a Richardson's Goose, and four Greenland-tagged Canadas at the Reeves Ave Buffalo Farm.In Mattituck, we relocated the Barnacle Goose and a Richardson's Goose at north end of Alvahs Lane. Nearby at Marratooka Lake, I found a molting male and hatch-year female Eurasian Wigeon, which offered great comparison with a HY female American.The most interesting sightings of the day was within a flock of ~800 geese north of Riley Ave in Calverton. I quickly found a single Richardson's Goose. In an isolated group of about 20 geese, I was astonished to find 12 Cackling Geese! Eight were classic Richardson's. However, a family unit (2 ads, 2 HYs) of four Cacklings appeared subtly different than the Richardson's (a bit browner, slightly heavier upperbody, more rounded head profile, smaller but non-indented white cheek, etc). I'm confident that these four were Cacklings - they had the classic structure of a flatter back, longer primary projection, and were rather tiny - but I' unsure if they may represent a separate subspecies (ie Taverner's Goose?).I'll post photos of the geese later today on my picasaweb site and attach a link.Michael McBrienEast Patchogue, NY & Bristol, RI
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