I am out at the Gray's Harbor Shorebird Festival in Hoquiam, co-leading a couple of field trips. There is a white goose out there in Bowerman Basin, Grays Harbor NWR, that people have been calling a Snow Goose, probably because views were distant and hazy. When I went back later in the afternoon and got a closer and clearer look, I was surprised to see that it actually is a ROSS'S GOOSE. It is tiny, with a little round head, short neck, and a small stubby bill with bluish color at the base. It has been hanging out with a flock of 25 Greater White-fronted Geese in the grass at the water's edge, on the end closer to the airport.

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
rwlawson at q.com