Cindy,

We also still have "our" recent arrival of a red-breasted goose at the
Des Moines Marina/Beach Park area. Saturday, I saw it grazing the lawns and
trying to get a share of the ubiquitous goodies tossed out by the daily
mobile bird feeders (the gulls, mallards, and bigger geese get the best
of the handouts).

I have contacted several people in the Puget Sound
area who raise these geese, and one person in North Seattle did have a
goose escape last year. The thought is that geese born and raised in
captivity cannot survive in the wild. So, now we have two of these
beautiful geese mixed in with the feral and winter resident water fowl
flocks.

Perhaps, proximity to people with freebees and large open lawns of grass
to eat keeps them alive. They are native to Siberia (WA should be no
challenge even in the winter!). Coyotes and great horned owls find them
a succulent morsel if they can catch them in top-open pens; most of the
local breeders totally enclose goose pens with wire mesh. However, I
suspect the "escaped" geese have a better chance of avoiding predators if
they are with mixed, free-flying flocks of other ducks and geese.

The Des Moines goose is not pinioned, not does it have a leg band. How
about the Kirkland bird?

Maureen E. Ellis
Tox Group at Roos 1
DEH, SPHM, Box 354695
Univ of WA
Seattle, WA 98195
me2 at u.washington.edu

****************************************************************************





On Sat, 30 Sep 1995, rodney mullins wrote:

> Has anyone please got any information on this extremely beautiful bird? I
> recently saw one in the Kirkland WA area and have been told by the U.S. Fish
> and Wildlife Dept. that is probably an escapee from a collection but no other
> info. I have some really great photos of it. I am a newbie as far as
> birding goes and this was a big experience for me. I would really appreciate
> anything anyone can tell me.
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Cindy Steele
> Kent, WA
>
> Rod_Mullins at msn.com
>