Dear Shai (& NY Birders), Despite the lousy quality of the photo, I'd say that bird looks really good for Ross' based on the steepness of the forehead. The base of the bill also look blue-gray. DC had its first Ross' this winter, which I got a look at, and it was much more ambiguous than this bird, and yet all the west coast people called ours a Ross'.
Hugh On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 7:06 PM, Shaibal Mitra <shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu>wrote: > There are currently a lot of geese on eastern Long Island. > > > > Patricia Lindsay and I were able to re-find Ken's Barnacle Goose along > Daniel's Lane in Sagaponack, as well as two Greater White-fronts there (we > picked up one of these by voice, as it got up and flew out of the field). > > > > Two Tundra Swans continue at Hook Pond, where a first-winter Lesser > Black-backed Gull constituted a somewhat unusual age-date combo for Long > Island (most winter birds here are adults). > > > > Heading to Riverhead, we quickly found one Pink-foot east of Roanoke Ave. > and helped several other birders get distant views. As we were about to > continue our quest for additional goose species, Glenn Quinn spied a white > goose in the flock. Given date and context (a lone white goose in a > prodigious, newly arrived flock of Canadas), we suspected Ross's. It took a > long time to get decent looks at this actively feeding, often obscured, > very distant bird, but we concluded it was, in fact, a Ross's. Head and > bill structure looked excellent, and our only concerns involved the poor > quality of the views (e.g., to rule out a hybrid) and the fact that the > bird's overall body size didn't seem quite as small as usual for this > species. We also managed to see and photograph (distantly) both Pink-footed > Geese together. > > > > A photo of the Ross's Goose is posted here: > > > > > https://picasaweb.google.com/109808209543611018404/LongIslandMiscellany2014#5985973033597786418 > > > > We never did connect with a Cackling Goose, our original target species > today, despite looking through an estimated 11,000 geese today! > > > > Shai Mitra > > Bay Shore > > ------------------------------ > > The Campaign for CSI: *For College and > Community*<http://www.csi.cuny.edu/foundation/> > -- > *NYSbirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and > Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail > Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> > *Please submit your observations to **eBird*<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> > *!* > -- > -- Hugh McGuinness Washington, D.C. -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
