PS: I arrived at Riverside Drive at 4:45 PM the geese were still to the way 
south field, over knoll, seen as they flew in or up and landed again in the 
strong north wind.  Besides the birds listed below there were many, 100 plus 
wood ducks, as many mallards and blacks.  Also red-wing blackbirds.  I 
spotted the Barnacle goose at 6:20 PM as it walked into view over the knoll 
to the south near the manure pile. Watched it for  5 minutes before it took 
to the air at 6:24 PM.  I did not see what direction it flew in as several 
hundred geese flew at the same time in several groups. Wow could you believe 
that wind ? most birds were flying sideways.  What a day, start with a 
Golden Eagle and end with the goose.  Nancy
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Resch" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 6:20 AM
Subject: [VTBIRD] Barnacle & Cackling Geese, 3/28, Vernon


>I was successful in finding the BARNACLE GOOSE in the fields at Riverside
> Drive in Vernon on 3/28.  Also had 4 CACKLING GEESE and 2 SNOW GEESE mixed 
> in
> with 4-5,000 Canadas, along with a number of other goodies.  Details 
> below -
>
> I arrived at the fields at about 1:30 and found all the geese to the south
> (right as you drive in) of Riverside Drive.  Amazingly I found the 
> BARNACLE
> mixed in with the Canadas within a couple minutes - no bands were apparent 
> on
> either leg.  Soon thereafter it disappeared behind a small hill.  2  SNOW 
> GEESE
> were visible also.
>
> At about 1:45 geese started to fly in small flocks from the south to the
> north end of the fields.  At 1:50 I saw the Barnacle Goose leading a flock 
> of 12
> Canadas flying left (north), with the entire flock landing in the corn
> stubble near the N edge of the field.  I watched the bird in flight with 
> 10X
> binocs at about 40 yards for maybe 20 seconds - no wear on the primaries 
> was
> noted.  After some searching I found it foraging in the corn stubble on 
> the
> ground.  At 2 PM it walked over a hill in the field out of sight - that 
> was  the
> last I saw of it.  (At that point it was less than 50 yards from NH - I 
> still
> need it for my NH list!)
>
> Until 3 PM small goose flocks continued to fly to this northern end of 
> the
> field - I counted 1144 Canadas and the 1 Barnacle.  Then the entire 
> northern
> flock spooked, circled, then flew back to the south end of the  field.
>
> At about 3:45 the entire goose flock spooked - and for a while the  flock
> swirled overhead looking for places to reland.  During this time I  was 
> able to
> pick out a tight group of 4 CACKLING GEESE overhead - I watched this 
> group for
> at least 30 seconds as they continued to stay together and not mix in 
> with
> the larger Canadas.  Not only were they obviously smaller, but had  much
> shorter necks, and flew differently - seemingly more shallow  wingbeats. 
> The
> Cacklings eventually landed together in the very far  southern end of the 
> fields out
> of view.
>
> In my 2 1/2 hours at the fields I had a number of other good birds -
>    *   PEREGRINE FALCON - 1 - chasing the rock pigeons at the southern end
> of the  fields
>    *   Horned Larks - 200+ - at one point the ground near me was "alive"
> with  larks
>    *   E Meadowlark - 3
>    *   LAPLAND LONGSPUR - 2 - these were low altitude flybys not in the 
> lark
> flock
>
> Mike  Resch
> Pepperell, MA
>
>
>
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