Hello Tweets,

In regards to Steve Mlodinow's informing posting about "Tule"Greater White-fronted Geese we wish to post our only experience of this subspecies in Washington. The sighting occurred on the 27th of October,2002 at the extreme east end of the Bowerman Basin runway bordering the main pond at the Hoquiam STP. It is here we photographed 2 Greater White-fronted Geese together,but felt the large and darker of the two birds was much different. We were joined by one other birder at the time and could not come to any conclusion to what the different Greater White-fronted Goose was,but upon more research after the sighting and getting opinions from other local sources came to the conclusion the interesting goose was a "Tule"Greater White-fronted Goose. A big thank you to Mike Patterson for being the only source that identified the "Tule" Greater White-fronted Goose for us! It was a great bird to see no matter if it is indeed a subspecies or a separate species. We have posted just 2 photos of the "Tule"Greater White-fronted Goose onto our website for those interested in a photo of what the bird actually looks like,which can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.pbase.com/godwit/waterbirds/


Sincerely,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com