Dear Dea and Tweeters,

The goose in the photo is very similar to a goose that I have been calling "Whitey" up here in Skagit County. He has shown up every fall since 2006; he usually shows up in September or October, and stays until March.

I am very curious about Whitey. He invariably shows up in a flock of a few score of Canada Geese. I have seen him quite a few times in the area between Lyman and Hamilton, but one time he turned up in a field near Padilla Bay.

I suspect he is a white barnyard goose of some sort, perhaps one of those that are descended from the Greylag Goose. He has just enough dark feathering in his wings to make one think that he's a Snow Goose at first. The Steilacoom goose in the photos also has such wing pigments.

I would very much like to know where Whitey goes in spring and summer! Might he possibly migrate with the Canadas? Or might he be hanging out in a park somewhere? I certainly spend enough time birding in Skagit to make me think that he's not around here in spring and summer. Also, it is interesting to note that, after three years, there are no oddball Canada-barnyard goose hybrids tagging along.

Yours truly,


Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?


--- birdmandea at aol.com <birdmandea at aol.com> schrieb am Di, 20.10.2009:

> Von: birdmandea at aol.com <birdmandea at aol.com>
> Betreff: [Tweeters] White Canada Goose?
> An: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Datum: Dienstag, 20. Oktober 2009, 2:44
> Greetings,
>
> Thanks to all of those who went to look at the pictures of
> the White Red Tailed Hawk in Steilacoom I posted last week.
>
> Today I went back to the creek to see I I could find her
> again. No luck but I did find a group of fifteen Canada
> Geese on the fresh water side of the dam. At first I thought
> a I had found a Swan, as I got close I thought I had found a
> Snow Goose. Now I think I have a hybrid or leucistic goose.
> Please look over these four photos and let me know what the
> collective thought might be.
>
>
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/25348030 at N07/sets/72157622621578402/detail/
>
>
>
> Take care,
>
> Dea Just
>
> 253-820-9722
>
>
>
> -----Integrierter Anhang folgt-----
>
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