Hi Ian,

You write:

>After rereading my tweeters post about the Ross's Goose near Poulsbo
>that what I meant to say is that the goose arrived in late August/early
>September with a flock of other geese (either Canada or Greater
>White-fronted according to the woman who owns the place). Do you have
>anymore information about Ross's Goose departure dates in Canada?

Locally, we usually don't see them much before late Oct. I've just checked
Campbell et al's Birds of BC; there's just one Aug record, nine September,
twenty October. Here's how the BC Ross's Goose occurrence to 1990 looks:

20 x x
18 x x
16 x x x x
14 x x x x x
12 x x x x x
10 x x x x x x x
8 x x x x x x x x
6 x x x x x x x x x
4 x x x x x x x x x
2 x x x x x x x x x x
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|
J A S O N D J F M A M J

Hm. Odd mid-winter distribution. Wonder where they go in December and why
such a big rebound in February. Two different populations involved? Here's
where a half dozen radio collars would come in *very* handy.

As far as Vancouver BC itself goes, there's very few records, but what there
is yields:

Southbound arrival: Oct 30 (3 rcds)
Southbound leave: n.a. (no rcds)
Northbound arrival: May 02 (1 rcd)
Northbound leave: May 06 (1 rcd)

So, while early, your bird might have a wild origin, but early enough to
consider captive origin as well. If the Canadas or Greater White-fronted
Geese it was hanging with were local non-migratory layabouts such as we have
a lot of here, I'd look hard at an 'Origin Uncertain' category for it.
Locally, the Canada Goose southbound migration doesn't show up until Week 4
September-Week 1 October. Snow Goose southbound arrival is likewise much
later than this bird:

Southbound arrival: Sep 29
Northbound leave: May 04

But the story gets interesting when we look at Greater White-fronted Goose's
migration chronology:

Average Vancouver BC arrival dates based on lots of records here for GWFG are:

Southbound arrival: Sep 05
Southbound leave: ~Oct 15
Northbound arrival: Apr 16
Northbound leave: May 03

Which, since ROGO & GWFG share many breeding territories, and given the
revised timing, suggests a stronger case for an unattached 'early' wild bird
travelling with an arrival flock of Greater White-fronts rather than an
escaped aviary bird. Interesting!

Cheerio!

M

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)