On Friday, Feb 17th, I saw 3 "Snow Geese" fly into the 140th St Marsh=20 in Dakota County. One was a blue phase bird, and appeared to be a=20 "pure" Snow Goose. The 2 "white" birds were not Snow Geese. Seen in=20 flight, they showed no black flight feathers in the wings; and on the=20 water it was obvious that their bills were not Snow Goose bills--- no=20 grin patch. Their white plumage showed the ghosting of darker=20 patterning on the back and flanks. I suspect that they are hybrids of a=20 blue phase Snow Goose and a white domestic bird. I observed the same=20 birds again on the 19th with Doug Kieser and Jim Otto, who=20 independently came to the same conclusion.
Due to the proximity to the Douglas Point location, and the same mix of=20 birds, there is the potential this is the same trio. Observers are=20 advised to consider this possibility. I have also been advised by Doug=20 Kieser, that a trio of similar birds were wintering at Silver Lake in=20 Rochester. Again, perhaps this same group of geese. Drew Smith Eagan, Dakota County -----Original Message----- From: Dan Deutsch <[email protected]> To: Mou <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:14:32 -0600 Subject: [mou] Snow Geese, Wash Cnty So I was just down at Point Douglas Park to see if there was=20 anything interesting down there. There were a few Goldeneye and a bunch=20 of Canada Geese. Other then that there were three Snow Geese mixed with=20 them and one them happen to be a dark adult, one of the most=20 interesting things I have seen to date this year. If you haven't seen=20 one be sure to check it out. I was down there not more then 20 minutes=20 ago and they were still there.=A0 =A0 Dan Deutsch=A0 =A0 _______________________________________________=A0 mou-net mailing list=A0 [email protected]=a0 http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net=A0 =20
