Bob & MOU listers, As I think back over the last 2-3 years birding heavily in Sherburne & Mille Lacs Counties (4-5 times per week, but this includes trail walks), have only had five Cackling Geese (one in early January along the Mississippi River, two October, two early to mid-November). So my first guess would be that these counties are not generally within the migration pattern.
Other options certainly exist - small Lessers being ID'd as Cackling elsewhere (suggesting that the migrating population in the state is less than we believe) - or the converse (numerous Cackling being dismissed as Lessers in central MN) - or, as you speculate, they move out before mid-November. I look forward to others' thoughts. Al Schirmacher Princeton, MN Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 6:35 PM Subject: [mou] Geese Today I sorted through 1000's of Canada Geese in numerous locations in Sherburne and Mille Lacs counties. I could not find a single Cackling Goose in any of these groups. This is most interesting as we are trying to learn the migratory pattern of Cackling Geese in Minnesota. In previous weeks and in late October it was relatively easy to find Cackling Geese in many locations were there were large numbers of Canada Geese. Is this a possible indication that Cackling Geese are gone from the state by early to mid-November or was it just a local situation that I ran into today? Your thoughts, comments and observations on the migration of Cackling Geese would be most interesting. Bob Janssen
