All,

At 3:30 pm, John Poschock (sorry for any incorrect spelling John) reports
that the Barnacle Goose is feeding in a field about 1/4 mile south of the
three oak trees on the auto tour loop and east of Rest Lake with Cackling
Geese.

Jim
--
Jim Danzenbaker
Battle Ground, WA
360-723-0345
jdanzenbaker at gmail.com


On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 2:46 PM, Jay Withgott <withgott at comcast.net> wrote:

>
> 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
>
>
>
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>
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