Hi Peter, Good eye in picking this out at Central Park and thanks for posting a link to your photos. After looking at the images, I feel your bird does not have the features for the expected Richardson's Cackling and I suspect that it is also not a a fit for *Taverneri (the largest of the Cackling subspecies) *which would require a more steeper culmen slope*. *As far as a Lesser Canada, this is even harder to ascertain. A bird like this, I either catalog as a "Lesser Canada Type" or a runt "Branta Canadensis."
The White-cheeked complex I find even tougher than Shorebirds or Gulls. I recently went through an exercise with a larger than average Cackling type species of Goose. I was really sure that I had finally set my eyes on a possible Taverneri but after research and consultation, I finally conceded that the subject was probably a "Richardson's Cackling" Goose; albeit one of the larger ones I have seen. Cheers, 風 Swift as the wind 林 Quiet as the forest 火 Conquer like the fire 山 Steady as the mountain Sun Tzu <http://refspace.com/quotes/Sun_Tzu> *The Art of War* <http://refspace.com/quotes/The_Art_of_War> (__/) (= '.'=) (") _ (") Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! Andrew Baksh www.birdingdude.blogspot.com On Feb 14, 2016, at 11:41 AM, Peter Post <pwp...@nyc.rr.com> wrote: Photos of the goose I found yesterday on the Central Park Reservoir can be found here: http://www.ardithbondi.com/page127.html I'm leaning towards Lesser Canada Goose (B. canadensis parvipes). Other opinions are welcome. The link has also been posted to Frontiers of Bird Identification. Peter Post -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
