I saw the Ross's Goose finally (on my fourth try) Saturday, Jan. 28, at
7:30 AM, dawn, on the nw pond of the Kent Ponds, where it apparently
spent the night with ca 100 Canada's. I wonder if the second white
goose, identified as "another Ross's" (but that was retracted by the
observer on examining the photos) of a Snow Goose could be the white
gray-lag type goose that confused some of us at the Russell Rd Park. It
is as large as a snow goose and has a pinkish bill, but has no black on
the primaries and a small roundish black spot on the side of the head
just behind the eye. The neck shows the transverse corrugations I
associate with gray-lags (though maybe many geese have them), and the
legs seem rather orangish, as I recall. In any case, with no black on
the primaries it is no snow goose.

Gene Hunn.

On Sat, 28 Jan 1995, James Ha wrote:

> To all-
>
> My wife, son, and I found two white geese this morning at 11:30-12:00 at
> a small park south of 212th along the east side of the river near the golf
> course (Russell Road Park, mostly softball fields). In each of two nearby
> groups of about 25 Canadas there was one white goose: one was
> distinctly chunkier, if not a bit longer, than the Canadas, and I had no
> problem identifying it as a snow goose, though there was no black on the
> bill (bill and legs were pink). In the other group of Canadas, mostly
> resting on the periphery of the foraging Canada group, was a similarly
> marked white goose distinctly smaller than the Canadas, and
> unquestionably smaller than the other white goose. It had a rounder
> head, shorter neck, black line on the bill (which also gave me fits when I
> referenced the Golden and NGS field guides), and a dark base to the bill
> (we saw no protuberances). The Ross's?
>
> We canvassed the areas around 212th and 68th, north to 178th, and saw no
> geese of any color, starting at about 11am.
>
> Cheers,
> Jim
> Psychology/Animal Behavior
> University of Washington
>