As I posted the other day, Gail Frantz, Paul Noell, and I managed to not 
see any of Bob Ringler's Cackling Geese in Westminster on Tuesday. 
Wednesday I finally managed to spot one at Centennial Lake. With some 
trepidation I decided to rustle up Gail, Paul, and Mark Linardi this 
afternoon to try for a Cackler at Centennial today.

It took a while but we finally spotted a Cackling Goose pretty close to 
the same location as the other day, in the water west of the first 
island west of the rope-barrier.

I suspect this was a different bird than I saw Wednesday. Today's bird 
definitely WAS paler and grayer than the Canadas. It was smaller than 
the Canadas, but I think not as small as my Wednesday bird. It clearly 
had a petite bill. We also noted the broader pale feather edgings on the 
topside. In light of Clive Harris's posting, I'm speculating the 
smaller, not-too-pale goose I saw Wednesday might have been a younger 
bird.

Anyway, now that we've knocked this tedious task out of the way, we can 
get back to birding for fun.

Steve Sanford
Randallstown MD
scartan ^at^ verizon ^dot^ net