Wednesday, 5 December 2012

[Maine-birds] Cackling Goose continues, Biddeford Pool

Hi all,

I've been seeing Ebird reports of the Biddeford Pool Cackling Goose, so I went to check if it was still there. I found it fairly quickly in the flock on the pond in Biddeford Pool, though after a few minutes the whole flock of 100+ geese took off and landed on the golf course, and I was unable to refind it. It was interesting looking through the flock for the Cackling Goose, because there are about 15 or so geese in the flock that evidently belong to one of the smaller subspecies of Canada Geese, which are noticeably smaller and shorter billed than the rest of the Canada Geese in the flock, but the short, stubby bill on the Cackling Goose still stands out even compared to them. From the right angle, a thin white "collar" of silvery feathers is evident just at the base of the neck.

Also of note were 9 Black-bellied Plovers lingering on the golf course in Biddeford Pool and 26 Northern Gannet feeding off the point of Biddeford Pool. 9 Great Cormorant were resting on the island just south of the East Point Sanctuary (does that island have a name? There's always Great Cormorant on it now). 

I saw no Pine Grosbeaks today, despite checking all the fruiting trees on the UNE campus. Maybe the giant female Cooper's Hawk I saw yesterday scared them off. 

Good Birding
David Rankin
Biddeford, ME

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David Rankin
University of New England
Graduate Student

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