Subject: Odd Goose
Date: Nov 18 13:38:44 2000
From: Larry & Jacque Goodhew - lgoodhew at clearwater.net


Hi!
We decided to bird the Walla Walla region today. John and Sue
Rogers joined us. Our first stop was the Stateline Pond on Highway
125 a quarter of a mile north of the Oregon border.
There were many Canada Geese, two of them were very different.
At first we thought they were Barnacle Geese, the face pattern on one
was a perfect match but the black neck extended only to the breast,
not low on the breast as in a Barnacle Goose. The other bird had a
Barnacle face pattern on one side of its head, and a standard Canada
Goose on the other side. j
Also on the pond were Mallards, American Widgeons, Ring-necked
Ducks and one Western Grebe, the first we have ever observed on this
pond. In the trees beside the pond was a standard looking Red-tailed
Hawk and a VERY dark-phase one.
We drove east into the wheat land south-east of Walla Walla, we
picked up several more Red-tailed Hawks, including a Rufous-morph
form.
Near Russel Creek Road we found 2 Northern Shrikes, many
California Quail and Dark-eyed Juncos, 1 Song Sparrow, several
Black-capped Chickadees and Northern Flickers, 1 Northern Goshawk, a
flock of several hundred Red-winged Blackbirds, 4 (late fall or very
early spring) Western Bluebirds.
We continued on east up Russel Creek Road, we found 9 Wild
Turkeys, these flew up the hillside, it was really neat to see them
fly with their tails all spread out like a beautiful fan.
Along Mill Creek we found 2 American Dippers and 1 Great Blue
Heron. North of Mill Creek at the head of Spring Creek Road, we came
on 2 small groups of Gray Partridge for a total of 11 birds.
Other birds seen on the trip:
Black-billed Magpie
Starling
Rock Dove
Robin
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
A good time was had by all!
Larry and Jacque Goodhew from Walla Walla