We arrived at Carruthers Rd off Hwy 101 in the South Bend area about 5pm Thursday, 2/7 - no Emperor Geese. We continued to bird the fields between Carruthers Rd and South Bend until dark with no luck.

We began again Friday morning, finally locating the pair of Emperors with a flock of about 30 Canada Geese at 9am. They were in a field adjacent to Hwy 101 approximately 1/2 mile NE of Carruthers Rd (just prior to the sharp bend Hwy 101 makes to the SE heading towards South Bend). The geese were about 300 yards out at the foot of the dike. They lifted off after only about two minutes and headed around the bend towards South Bend and were still flying strong when they went of sight. We continued to bird the area, but could not relocate the Emperors. We gave up about 10:30am and continued our trip northward.

At Raymond, we turned onto Hwy 105 and headed toward Westport. At MP 5, we passed a small flock (30) of Canada Geese that contained two birds with familiar looking white heads. We stopped at a pullout about 150 yards past the milepost sign to get better looks and, sure enough, there were two Emperor Geese in the middle of the flock of Canadas. The geese were calm and grazing when we continued on our way at 11:15am.

Warren & Sue Terrell
W Richland,WA
sueeterrell at yahoo.com


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