After posting last night about finding the "Cackling Goose" that had been reported at Inwood Hill Park in the morning, I received emails from Nathan O'Reilly and Lynne Hertzog that they had seen what they assumed was the bird in question, but they did not think it was a Cackling Goose. Both were kind enough to send me photos. The bird in their photos is unquestionably the bird I saw yesterday afternoon. After looking at the photos, I have to say I agree there is doubt about it being a Cackling Goose. The bill definitely looks too large for Cackling Goose and the bill is certainly much larger than on the bird I saw last winter in the park. Plumage-wise it seems a good match for "Dusky" Canada Goose (subspecies occidentalis), however, according to the references I have checked occidentalis is a large bird, about the same size as the common Atlantic form of Canada Goose. This bird is clearly much smaller. Body size seems to me to be in the Cackling Goose range, but there is that large bill. In the end, I am not comfortable pinning a name on it, though Canada Goose is certainly the most likely thing considering range and the large bill.
I want to thank Nathan and Lynne for sharing their photos with me. Joe DiCostanzo www.greatgullisland.org -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
