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Date: | Thu, 29 Mar 2007 06:20:13 EDT |
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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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