Perhaps they are the "Taverner's Canada Goose," which is lumped by some
with "lesser Canada Goose," though they are rather darker and winter west
of the Cascades, especially in the Willamette Valley.

Gene Hunn.

On Tue, 24 Oct 1995, Randy Deardorff wrote:

> This Sunday (10/22) at Damon Point, there was a group of about 20
> Canada Geese on the central pond. With them, were 6 individuals of
> one of the smaller subspecies. I've never seen any of these before,
> at least not so closely associated with the larger geese, where their
> smaller size was so obvious.
>
> They seemed to be a bit more than half the size of the larger geese.
> Definitely bigger than Mallards, which were also present. Their
> breasts were darker than their bigger cousins, with a warm brown cast.
> There was no white neck ring. The white cheek-patches seemed
> narrower, even slightly pointed.
>
> I've consulted the usual field guides, but they seem to offer somewhat
> conflicting information on the subspecies. I've also read the
> appropriate passages from "Birds of Washington State", Jewett et al,
> 1953, as well as another waterfowl book I forget the name of, but I
> have not been able to make sense of it. Any ideas?
>
> If anyone wants to reply personally, I will summarize back to the list.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Randy Deardorff / Barb Smith
> curlew at eskimo.com
> Seattle, Washington USA
>
>