Thanks for posting this fantastic photos John! After receiving John's call, I postponed some dinner plans to go over and check it out under waning light. It appeared unusual and the wing projection really stuck out to me. After returning home and reviewing my Birds of Europe (Princeton) book, I was struck by the difference in bill size and forehead angle between the Greater and the Lesser, which to me is reminiscent of the difference between a Snow Goose and a Ross's Goose. That didn't stick out to me at all with this bird and reviewing the photos confirms it.

Thanks again John for posting these photos so quickly. It's a real luxury to see photos of the bird just after you returned home to realize that you may have missed a key field mark!

Cheers,
Adam Sedgley
adams at seattleaudubon.org

________________________________

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu on behalf of John Puschock
Sent: Tue 2/12/2008 7:42 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Goose at Montlake Fill (UBNA) - Lesser White-frontedGoose?


Upon further review, I'm going to have to agree with Brett Wolfe, this looks like a small Greater White-fronted Goose. Other than size and perhaps wing length (though if you check the old Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding, you'll see a Greater with wingtips extending beyond the tail), nothing seems to agree with Lesser White-fronted: extent of white on the face, no prominent eyering, a dark nail on the bill, bill color and perhaps bill shape all suggest Greater.

I put a few photos at http://www.sdbirding.com/whitefronted.htm, and I may add some more throughout the night, particularly if there's still some thought that it may be a Lesser.

John Puschock
Wedgwood, Seattle
g_g_allin at hotmail.com
http://www.birdtreks.com


________________________________

Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live. Get it now! <http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008>