11/23/2009 Thanks to a heads up phone call from Jim Otto. I checked my photographs of one of the Ross's Geese observed on Loon Lake in Waseca County today. The bird I photographed is clearly a hybrid Ross's x Lesser Snow Goose. While I did not pick up on this in the field, as the bird was a sleep with its head tucked in during almost the entire time I observed it. I did get one clear side shot of the bird, with its head up and you can clearly see a smile line and a much longer bill than you would expect to see on a Ross's Goose. I did also observe a second bird in the South East corner of the lake, but was not able to photograph that bird. But did get several looks at that one in full profile and it appeared to have the small triangular bill, that the Ross's Geese have. If anyone is interested in viewing my photographs, please email me privately and I would be happy to share them with you.
Also note that it sounds like the number and variety of species on the lake vary greatly throughout the day. So there very well could be multiple Ross's Geese in addition to the Hybrid bird. So if anyone is able to get down that way, please check out the White Geese closely and let us know what you find. Craig Mandel [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Minnetonka, Hennepin County ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
