I just had a bird fly out of the roosting geese at the pond here at the Avon DEC office that my first impression was that it was a weird goose with a chestnut colored body with black toward the rear, pink bill, and black wings with a prominent white stripe down the greater and lesser coverts on the upper wings. Looking in my bird guides the only thing that matches that color pattern is Black-bellied Whistling Duck, but my impression was that this bird was closer to the size of a small goose than a duck. The bird circled the pond a couple of times before flying off to the north in same direction and the goose flocks were departing. Also present on the pond were ~4,000 Canada Geese and a single Snow Goose.
Michael R. Wasilco Regional Wildlife Manager, Division of Fish and Wildlife New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 6274 E. Avon-Lima Rd., Avon, NY 14414 P: (585)226-5460 | F: (585) 226-6323 | mike.wasi...@dec.ny.gov www.dec.ny.gov<http://www.dec.ny.gov/> | [cid:image002.gif@01D01928.215FD820] <https://www.facebook.com/NYSDEC> | [cid:image001.gif@01D01927.D33C0790] <https://twitter.com/NYSDEC> -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
