This pond seems to be the only water open in Greeley--though
Bittersweet Lake is starting to open (it had a couple thousand geese
itself). I was there at 10AM and enjoyed the "spectacle".
Thanks Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com
Mobile: http://coloradobirder.ning.com/m
On Feb 3, 8:14 pm, Steven Mlodinow <sgm...@aol.com> wrote:
> Greetings All
>
> This morning Cathy Sheeter and I went out for a few hours birding. We started along the Poudre River Trail, just north of Greeley at 35th (turn s. from O Street), and park on the west side of 35th just s. of the river. Walk west along the trail towards the deafening roar of Canada and Cackling Geese. The pond in which these are roosting is only about 1/4 mile or so from 35th.
>
> When we arrived shortly after 8 am, geese were already drifting off in flocks of 50 to 100, nearly continuously, yet when we reached the pond, it was nearly solid geese, some 5 to 10 acres of geese... I thought I'd gone to heaven :o)
> The birds are fairly close, certainly far closer than they would be in any of the ne. reservoirs such as Jumbo or Jackson. We estimated 20,000 birds, yet the number could've been somewhat larger. And there were a number of surprises.
>
> 1- About 1/3 of the geese were Cacklings. This is by far the highest percentage either of us had encountered all winter in any sizable goose flock.
>
> 2- There were 14 Canada/Cackling x Snow/Ross's Goose hybrids present. It was truly astonishing. We couldn't ID them all, but 6 appeared to be Snow x Lesser Canada, which tends to be the most common of the 4 possible combinations. 2 were Snow x Cackling, and these appeared to be nestmates, as they stuck close together. Another 2 looked to be Ross's x Lesser Canada, a cross I'd not seen before, and again, these looked to be nestmates. Finally, we had one very cute Ross's x Richardson's Cackling. 3 were just not seen well enough to place.
> So, how to find and ID these critters. First of all, most look somewhat like Blue Geese in plumage pattern. Indeed, we had 26 Snow Geese (and 18 Ross's), but only one of those was a Blue. Lesson: If you are west of Jackson Reservoir or so, and you see something that looks like a Blue Goose, think hybrid. Not all hybrids look that way, but many do. Also, to help separate hybrids from Blue Goose, the hybrids usually have dusty pink bills, reduced tertials (Blue Geese have long white edged tertials), dusky or dull pink legs, and slimmer bills.
> Secondly, size and bill seem the most important marks to focus on. If the bird is smaller than a Cackling, it pretty much has to be a Ross's x Cackling (though runtism in another hybrid is possible.) These birds tend to have round cute heads, not quite as much so as a Ross's, but you get that feel. There is no hint of a grin patch, some of the dull gray area of a Ross's Goose bill can be seen. As with all of these crosses, the bill is proportionately longer or slimmer than that of the white goose parent. If the bird is larger than a Lesser Canada Goose (B.c. parvipes), then it is most likely a Snow x Lesser Canada, as Snows are a bit bigger than Canadas. There is usually fair evidence of the grin patch, even if it is reduced compared with that of a Snow. Snow x Richardson's Cackling Goose tends to be in between the size of Lesser Canada and Richardson's Cackling, again, with evidence of that grin patch and some of the bulky headed look of a Snow. Lesser Canada x Ross's is about the size of a Richardson's Cackler, give or take. I think the key here is the bill.... it lacks a grin patch, is relatively small and narrow, and can show some of that gray near the base like a Ross's. Finally, the bulky headed look of a Snow isn't present. If Ross's is a parent, the head is probably more likely to be pristinely white, where as those involving Snow Goose seem to have some dark marking high up on hind neck or on head.
>
> Still awake?
>
> 3) Perhaps the oddest and most exciting hybrid was a blue-morph goose. It looked FABULOUS for the exceptionally rare blue-morph Ross's, except it was a bigger than the Ross's, and smaller than the Snows. And its bill shape and proportions were precisely in between.
>
> 4) We saw at least 2 Greater White-fronted Geese
> And look for the Ghost Canada Goose... a Lesser that is nearly white.
> And if you are looking for a goose head, we saw a N Harrier carrying one off across a field, but that's another tale...
>
> So, Goosapalooza totals were:
> 12,000 Lesser Canada Geese
> 200 Big Ugly Canada Geese (that's the official name)
> 7,000 Richardson's Cackling Geese (I couldn't find a Taverner's, and I tried)
> 26 Snow Geese
> 18 Ross's Geese
> 2 Greater White-fronted Geese
> 6 Snow x Canada Geese
> 2 Snow x Cackling Geese
> 2 Ross's x Canada Geese
> 1 Ross's x Cackling Goose
> 1 Snow x Ross's Goose
>
> and there were 5 GB Herons that flushed out of a marsh just before (east) of the goose pond.
>
> Now, onto CEMETERIES....
>
> The Eaton Cemetery had 5 Mountain Chickadees, 3 GC Kinglets, 1 Brown Creeper, and about 40 juncos.
>
> The Linn Grove Cemetery on the east side of Greeley (just east of US 85 on 18th) had 1 Cassin's Finch, 1 Montane Hairy Woodpecker, 3 Mountain Chickadees, 3 Brown Creepers, and 3 Townsend's Solitaires.
>
> No sapsuckers or Pine Warblers, but we were looking.
>
> Good Birding
> Steven Mlodinow
> Somewhere near Firestone, or is Fort Lupton, or maybe Platteville.
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