Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 03:07:51 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norman Saunders Subject: Re: Out, out damned goose... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Yeah, go ahead. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sherry Peruzzi" To: Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 6:14 PM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Out, out damned goose... > Norm, may I post one more message about the goose in order to thank a birder who > helped us find it? I don't know her name or even if she's a Marylander or reads > this list, but just in case I'd like to try to let her know how much we > appreciate her help. > > Ken, my husband and birding partner, and I drove down from Columbia to Cameron > Run Regional Park this morning. We arrived about 11:30, finding the park easily > thanks to the excellent directions that Michael Bowen posted last Friday. But > once we got into the parking lot, we realized that we didn't have a clue as to > where in the large lot to park to start looking for the goose. We finally > decided to park near the pool, and soon found the miniature golf course. We > walked from one end to the other, but couldn't see a lake or river or anywhere a > flock of geese would be, so we walked back to the parking lot trying to decide > where else to go. We had printouts of the other posts with us, and thought we'd > try to find one of those spots. > > As we were walking back to our car, probably looking as confused as we felt, a > woman drove into the lot. When she saw our binoculars, she stopped, opened her > window and called out, "Are you looking for The Goose?" When we said yes, she > said, "It's just down the street -- turn left on Eisenhower and it's in a flock > of geese on the grass just opposite the blinker light, right out by the road. > It's easy to see! Go, hurry up!" > > We raced to our car, drove out, and saw a small flock of geese on the left just > past where the mini-golf course ends. We found the small parking lot by the lake > (next to the townhouses), which we hadn't known about because it's past the > entrance to the park. We jumped out and ran back toward the flock of geese. And > yes! There among 28 Canadas feeding on the grass was the Barnacle Goose, just as > our anonymous benefactor had said. > > The geese were still there when we left about 20 minutes later, feeding calmly > on the grass, completely unbothered by either the joggers who ran by on the path > a few feet away or by us standing there on the grass watching and taking > pictures. > > If the birder who called out to us hadn't taken the initiative to do so, we > would probably have gone down to the Eisenhower Avenue bridge and completely > missed the Barnacle Goose, a life bird for both of us. > > As novice birders, Ken and I rediscover again and again how friendly and helpful > the birding community is. If you are reading this and recognize yourself, please > know that volunteering your help made all the difference to us! > > And Norm, I also appreciate your allowing me to post this in case whoever it is > reads this list. > > Sherry Peruzzi > Columbia, Howard County > bookworms@home.com > > > Saunders_N wrote: > > > A short article in the 2 February 2002 issue of The Economist discusses a > > report by Robert Fleischer et al which has just been published in the > > Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report examines Canada > > Goose taxonomy, as well as the taxonomy of the Nene and two other > > now-extinct goose species from the Hawaiian Islands. > > > > Dr. Fleischer finds that the Nene and the two extinct goose species were > > closely related (not surprisingly) but have also been discovered to be mere > > subspecies of the Canada Goose. Another goose species that Fleischer lumps > > in with this subgoup of our too-familiar Canada Goose is the Barnacle Goose. > > Read this and weep, oh ye Virginia birders...grin. > > > > And now, having gotten that off my chest, shall we leave further discussion > > of the Barnacle Goose to the Virginia lists and turn back to Maryland? > > Thank you... > > > > ===================================== > > Norman C. Saunders > > Colesville, Montgomery County, MD > > marshhawk@att.net > > > > ======================================================================= > > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > > ======================================================================= > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================