As Shawneen noted, the Barnacle Goose at Ridgefield does not have a
leg band, and the hallux (hind toe) on both legs is full and intact.
Jim and I concurred on this, and as I left, Scott Carpenter was
obtaining photos that presumably will document this. (Knowing the
usual quality of Scott's photos, we will probably be able to discover
a couple of species of feather mites new to science from them as
well.)

Although the lack of a band is disappointing (it means a loss of
potential certainty about the bird's provenance), the fact that both
halluces are intact means that either the bird is wild or it is of
captive origin from someone who failed to clip their birds' toes.

For what it's worth, I noticed no unusual feather wear or other
obvious indications of captivity. In its behavior, the bird appeared
healthy and normal. At one point it scanned the sky for predators,
along with several other birds in the flock. At another point it
hissed at a Cackling Goose that had approached too closely. The
Cackler ignored it, so the Barnacle hissed again, and this time the
Cackler hissed back and the Barnacle backed away.

It would be useful to hear from the person who reported seeing the
leg band -- just in case there are two Barnacle Geese around, one
with a band and one without.

I have no idea what to think about Jim's odd Cackling Geese with
Barnacle-looking heads (which I did not see). I have on a number of
occasions in the past seen hybrid or otherwise "off" Canadas or
Cacklings with patterns of white on the face that closely mimicked
the look of Barnacle Geese, and have never known whether these were
actual hybrids or whether the Barnacle-type face pattern is the
result of some common genetic mutation that gets readily expressed
with some frequency.

Jay Withgott
Portland, OR
withgott at comcast.net



At 1:47 PM -0800 2/22/11, Shawneen Finnegan wrote:
>Jim Danzenbaker just called. The BARNACLE GOOSE is NOT banded and
>does have both its hind toes. Apparently it appears to be with
>several Barnacle x Cackling looking geese so may be part of a family
>group. It is with at 35 Cacklers at the moment.
>
>Shawneen Finnegan
>Portland