Paul Gildersleeve kindly sent me some pictures of the Sunken Meadow goose taken yesterday and by comparing the shape and patterning of the bill, I think we can safely say that this is a DIFFERENT individual from the goose that spent a few days in Flushing, Queens last winter. The Flushing bird had a more elongated bill with a distinctive edging to the pink area. To form your own opinion, take a look at the quick composite I posted on my 'Birding to the End' blog.
http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ As mentioned earlier by Shai, Sunken Meadow SP isn't too far from Stony Brook and is even closer to the Nissequogue River where a Pink-footed Goose spent part of the 2007-2008 winter. From the distant images I have at hand right now, I can't say that these aren't the same individual. The Montauk bird (winter 2007/08) was present at the same time as the Stony Brook bird but I think has more extensive area of pink on the bill. Again I have better images of that bird somewhere for a more definitive comparison. Obviously, there isn't too much variation and many birds have very similar bills but some will be different enough that they can be ruled out or provide a firm match. -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY, USA http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
