Dear Connie,
It is so refreshing to read you praise and appreciation to seeing this two
very rare Bean Geese.You have such talent to write such beautiful
description the way you saw and observed and described this two Geese.There
are many birders who wrote us a nice letter what find this birds where and
decide to come all the way across the country to see this good looking Geese
..I believe with all the other rare birds be found in Washington this year
,this two Bean Geese are the birds of the year.Is it impossible not only
finding one Goose last year in December,but almost at the same spot to
finding two? We suppose to going to Ocean Shores that morning,as Patrick
looked at the ponds I drove to Lana's Caf? to see if I find a White fronted
Geese or a Great Egret what we had there before.I noticed a large group of
Canada,the first big group this year but nothing beside this.As I looked
direction on to the mudflats,there was thousand's of Shorebird lined
up,there was flying as always when you watching this little fragile birds
flying synchronized fort and back.So we decided to checking the Mudflats
out.The Gate was open so we drove all the way to the end.Looking to the left
where the last building Holy Mogul there was hundreds of Geese grazing.I
Dint think of any rarity at all ,but as Patrick barley looked he said"THERE
ARE TWO BEAN GEESE "!!!!!what I was thinking at this moment that he this
joked,but Patrick is not the joking kind of guy.So as I looked at this two
geese and the first look was at the bill blue on the base yellow with a dark
tip.No domestic would had this remarkable fieldmark.I got so exited not at
all to think to grab my camera I had to watch this birds more to be sure
that this birds are being really Bean Geese.The birds slowly walking away
going onto the run way in the end flying to another spot on the airfield.So
we drove trying to going out,but some one close the gate.We had to going to
find some one to get us out.There told us that never to enter regardless
that some people what own planes there don't look the gate .
There is no way we are going to Ocean Shores and it was much more exiting to
watching this two Geese.I forgot to mention that there also was three Snow
Geese two adults and one immature Geese and on White fronted what seems
injured ,he had one wing hanging What a coincident as we also had three Snow
Geese last year with the Bean Goose.I hope that all birders really enjoying
this beautiful creatures what been flying a long way this to come to
Bowerman to settle down so we can watch them with joy or come to look and
put one more bird on to there list what ever it is please don't let this
birds flying over to K Street where hunting is going on.


Cheers and enjoy!!!!!!

Ruth Sullivan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Connie Sidles" <csidles at isomedia.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 6:47 PM
Subject: Delectable bean geese


> Hey tweets, I've been thinking about humans' relationship to nature, as
you
> know, and today gave rise to much thought.
>
> I drove out to Bowerman this morning to try to find the two bean geese
that
> Patrick and Ruth Sullivan had miraculously found yesterday hanging out
near
> the Hoquiam sewage ponds and again at the airfield. Sure enough, the two
> bean geese were there, looking perfectly stunning. I found them on the
side
> of the road just inside the sewage pond fence. They are gorgeous birds
that
> don't really look anything like greater white-fronted, despite what the
bird
> books say. For me, their most outstanding features were the pale blue-gray
> wing coverts that stood out in flight and also even when their wings were
> folded; and the delicate feathering of their necks. These neck feathers
are
> just a bit reminiscent of George, the nene bachelor I ran into at
Haleakala
> years ago. The feathers not really stripey, but hinting of stripiness, if
> that makes any sense. George, by the way, was the object of all the park
> rangers' pity; they said he could not get a girl, no matter how hard he
> tried, and yet, every year he was back in the line-up giving it his all. I
> don't know if these two bean geese are a pair, siblings, same sex or what,
> but they do stick together constantly. So much so that at one point, one
of
> the geese lost track of the other and rose in a panic, only to fly three
> feet and land on his/her? brother/sister/spouse/just good friend's? back.
> Whew, together again.
>
> Unfortunately, as I was trying to sneak up for a closer peek, a couple
with
> a dog drove by slowly to see what I was looking at. The bean geese took
> fright and up they went, the only two geese out of a flock of hundreds (or
> was it billions?) to be so affected by a dog in a car (or possibly by me
> peeking at them). The truck with offending dog and people disappeared in a
> puff of dust, never to return. All I could do was curse my luck, thinking
in
> an Indiana Jones kind of way, "Dogs. Why does it always have to be dogs?"
> (you may recall my horrendous experience with last year's bean goose, when
> John and I braved one of the most hellaceous storms we've ever seen and
were
> just setting up to view the bean goose when a demon in man's attire loosed
> his dogs on the geese to scare them away. My blood pressure still goes up
> when I think of it).
>
> And I was thinking of those darn dogs as I watched the two rumps of the
bean
> geese disappear into the sun. Then I remembered that Ruth and Patrick had
> also seen the bean geese in the corner of the airfield, right where the
> boardwalk turns to the right to head out to the mudflats. So I picked up
my
> scope and hauled myself out there. Sure enough, the bean geese were
> peacefully grazing, along with three snow geese and hordes of Canadas,
> including several really, really dinky cacklers (my favorite goose).
>
> At first, I was all alone with the geese, the sun, the sublime beauty of
the
> moment. Then I worm entered my apple of paradise. I began to think about
> that man last year who had so deliberately set out to spoil our innocent
> pleasure. Some people believe that he or some hunter like him killed the
> bean goose of last year, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that the
> goose had been featured in the local newspaper and was bringing the town
> lots of business from birders eager to see such a rarity.
>
> Why do people have to be so mean-spirited? My husband John, a great
believer
> in E.O. Wilson's and Jane Goodall's theories, says it's because we're just
> recently evolved chimpanzees, and what else can you expect? Whenever he
says
> this, I call to mind Katherine Hepburn in "The African Queen," who tartly
> informed Humphrey Bogart, as she was pouring out all his whiskey, that
> "human nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put on earth to rise above."
>
> In an attempt to rise above my rising blood pressure, I made myself start
> thinking instead about the lovely Sullivans, who so generously share all
> their rare findings with everyone else in the birding community. Why do
they
> do that? I've never asked them, and if I did, they would probably look at
me
> like I had two heads. Of course they would share their discoveries with
> others, I can just hear Ruth sputter, what else would you do?
>
> And there you have it: the current of fellowship that runs through the
> birding community (and is such a prominent part of Ruth's and Patrick's
> natures). It is strong and deep. We share what we love because when we do,
> the sharing only enhances our own experiences. Nothing beats finding a
rare
> bird when you're out by yourself - *unless* it's seeing another birder
> coming down the pike whom you can flag down and share your find with.
>
> It's not just the sharing that I value, either. I simply love being with
> people who value our finds as an experience to fix in our memories - and
not
> as a pelt to nail on the wall.
>
> These two bean geese, so far from home and trying to find habitat similar
to
> the place where they really should be, have settled in a mere interstice
of
> wild sandwiched between humans' more important artifacts - the sewage
> treatment plant for waste, the air field for fun. Not so different
> activities, eh? How's that for irony?
>
> It strikes me that there is probably not a single place on the planet that
> has been left untouched by human hands, and the hands seem to be getting
> grabbier all the time. But they don't *have* to be. We control so much of
> the planet. Surely we can control ourselves, too, if only we would realize
> the utter and transcendent beauty that nature bestows on us one lucky,
> perfect day in November.
>
> I urge you all to get down to Bowerman and drink in these bean geese. And
> please tell any reporters or hunters you see that you're looking at
mallards
> or Norwegian rats or maybe starlings in breeding plumage.
>
> Oh how I hope that those bean geese, framed in golden sunlight today, will
> continue to graze undisturbed and wild, allowing us to look and love but
> that is all. I hope that our environment will nourish them until the day
> comes when they can take wing and fly back to Siberia and tell their
> grandchildren and great-grandchildren about the time they visited
Bowerman.
> I know that's what I plan to do with my own grandchildren someday. -
Connie,
> Seattle
>
> csidles at isomedia.com
>
> Here's everything I saw today, not that I was noticing much else:
>
> great blue heron
> tundra swan (two at Bowerman)
> bean goose
> Canada goose (including cacklers)
> snow goose
> mallard
> green-winged teal
> American wigeon
> northern shoveler
> canvasback
> bufflehead
> killdeer
> black-bellied plover
> Wilson's snipe
> dunlin
> sanderling
> western sandpiper
> ring-billed gull
> glaucous-winged gull
> western gull
> northern harrier
> red-tailed hawk
> rough-legged hawk
> rock pigeon
> northern flicker
> downy woodpecker
> Steller's jay
> American crow
> common raven
> black-capped chickadee
> winter wren
> marsh wren
> golden-crowned kinglet
> European starling
> song sparrow
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>