From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sat Nov 6 16:41:37 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iA70dKjn016744 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:39:21 -0800 (PST) Received: from mailgate02.slac.stanford.edu (mailgate02.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.18.92]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iA70c1VC016696 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:38:01 -0800 (PST) Received: from flora02.slac.stanford.edu (flora02.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.16.57]) by mailgate02.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id iA70bjOT008266 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:37:50 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from [[email protected]]) Received: from localhost (eisner@localhost) by flora02.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.5/Submit-solaris) with ESMTP id iA70bit5011341 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:37:45 -0800 (PST) X-Authentication-Warning: flora02.slac.stanford.edu: eisner owned process doing -bs Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:37:44 -0800 (PST) From: Al Eisner <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Subject: [SBB] Continuing Geese X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] After two not-very-productive stops today, I visited the four-species goose flock which (as of about 1:30 or so today) was by the parking lot on the west side of Lake Cunningham. There were about 110 to 115 CANADA GEESE, with at least two CACKLING GEESE (three sightings, but I think probably just two birds). The SNOW GOOSE and ROSS'S GOOSE (both adults, I think) trailed the flock, and stayed together. I was trying to match up the Cackling Geese with Mike Rogers's descriptions, not entirely successfully. None of those I saw had a white neck ring. Both had darker breasts than on the Canadas, but on one the color was sandy brown, while the other was darker and grayer. So far as I could tell, the first bird had no significant dark on the chin, while the second had a dark dividing line. The bill of the first was stubby, that of the second was a bit longer, but rather fine. The first was perhaps the size of the Snow Goose, but I didn't have a side-by-side comparison, and I never saw the Cacklings together either; so this characterization of the size should be considered very tentative. The second was smaller than the Snow, probably nearly as small as the Ross's. I think it's clear I didn't see the third bird Mike described (the Aleutian type), but I'm not sure how well the above match with his first two. What does a taverni look like? I'm also curious if the new species includes forms which are intermediate in size and may be harder to ID. Earlier, I spent a while by San Tomas Aquino Creek near Agnews (Rd.?), but didn't find anything more interesting than a HERMIT THRUSH (heard) and a probable ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. At the Alviso Marina, a bulldozer was working just east of the (closed) parking lot when I arrived, and there were few gulls east of the RR tracks there; 100 or so in the im- poundment farther north didn't have any rarities either. Pond A12 had 5 or 6 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERs and about 100 EARED GREBEs (plus WESTERN, PIED-BILLED and probably HORNED); a large feeding flock near the A11 levee was too distant to study carefully. When I returned I found Mike Mammoser looking over a larger group of common gulls. He did spot our highlight: the GREATER ROADRUNNER just coming into view at the end of the parking lot -- it stayed within about 15 yards for a minute or so before heading into the weeds. Al Eisner _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]