Welcome to TASL newcomer Davis Noble of Marblehead. Davis assisted Linda Pivacek in Nahant.
Again, a special thanks to Mr. Brian Dinneen, Director of Long Island Hospital, for prompt response to our request for access to Long Island.
Here are selected comments from reporters:
From Maury Hall, compiler, 12/27:
Very low numbers for many species (and total abundance) – even Bufflehead. Brant at lowest ever.
From Pat Randall, Winthrop (Broad Sound sector), 11/21:
It‘s a good thing we didn’t start any later. Paula [Chasan] and I finished on the verge of dusk and the last two sites were a challenge in the low light. Mainly, we were slowed down by the afternoon timing and the good weather—we had loads of people come by who wanted to know what we were doing, to peer at birds through our scopes, etc. I encouraged one couple to join Friends of Belle Isle and I have another man I’ve invited to join us for the January census. It was really hard to avoid all the interruptions.
From Craig Jackson. Winthrop (Winthrop Harbor sector), 11/21 ...During the survey Kenton Griffis, Betsy [Sims] and I saw a Cackling Goose of the Richardson's variety on Lewis Lake in Winthrop. We first scoped the bird from across the lake but later got within 25 feet of it and possibly closer.
The bird was with approximately 100 Canada Geese and was noticeably smaller—about two-thirds the size. Accordingly, it had a much smaller head and bill, although it did not appear to be as tiny as the bill of the Cackling Goose picture in Sibley. The bird had a light breast, again like Richardson's, not Cackling (in Sibley), although it appeared a bit darker than that of the Canadas. The back was the most noticeable difference other than size. It was much grayer and lighter (almost no brownish tinge, typical of Canada). The head was somewhat rounded, although slightly less so than that of the Canadas.
Since we only had Sibley, we concluded that the bird was a Richardson's Goose and not a Cackling Goose, primarily because of the light breast. Kenton did further checking and found out that Richardson's has now been lumped together with Cackling, so I guess it was a Cackling, or is it now better called a Lesser Canada Goose?
From Kenton Griffis. Winthrop (Winthrop Harbor sector), 11/21
Richardson's Goose is now part of Cackling Goose. Canada was split as follows:
The above is from http://www.oceanwanderers.com/CAGO.Subspecies.html
Also, there was a recent post on Cackling by Dan Berard, copied below. His description and photos are the same as our goose.
Hello, you are all probably sick of seeing this e-mail address with Cackling in the subject. But this afternoon around 3:30, before I was about to leave for work, I heard a Cackling Goose out on the lake. I assumed it flew in recently because it was not there when I checked the geese earlier. I went to investigate and it was there. Also present was the goose with the yellow band on its neck, so it may be the same Cackling I saw last night. However, this time I did not mess around with a video camera and put my digital camera up to the scope and got some good pics.
So here are the pics of the Cackling Goose that was on my lake this afternoon. If anyone would like more let me know and I will be more than happy to upload some more.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/ArkhamBass/19ec2995.jpg (not the best but my favorite)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/ArkhamBass/0c8546dc.jpg
-Dan Berard Jr, Millbury
From Soheil Zendeh:
Brian Lipson and I started that morning at Belle Isle Park in East Boston. We immediately found an American Bittern at the entrance to the park. Later on, we checked the Five Sisters and Winthrop Beach and found 2 Dunlin and 15 Ruddy Turnstones on the breakwaters. I recommended to Maury that these birds be added to the day's TASL tallies. After all they were there in the day of the count!
Comments compiled by
Soheil Zendeh
last updated: 12/28/2005
url: http://www.gis.net/~szendeh/tasl.nov.05.notes.htm
