[Bristol-Birds] CORRECTION: Ross's Geese at Paddle Creek Pond (not Snow Geese)

Bristol Area Birders:

This afternoon Rick Knight reported that he had been to the Paddle Creek Road 
Pond in Sullivan Co., TN today (Feb. 20) and found five Ross's Geese present.  
He said the birds were observed at close range.  

My response was that he must have seen the same geese found there Monday, Feb. 
19, by Richard Kretz and myself.  I looked at them with a spotting scope and 
carefully considered the identification.  I had considered whether they were 
Ross's or not but settled for Snow Geese.

Since Knight had seen them at close range and got a good study and believed 
they are Ross's Geese, I told Rick I was satisfied I misidentified them on 
Monday.  I took full credit for the Monday call.  

Today, Feb. 20, Bryan Stevens, Reece Jamerson and I went to the pond and the 
geese, seen a short time earlier by Knight, were still present.  I got another 
good look at them and concluded:  

    (1)  there is no reason to believe the birds were not the same ones seen 
there Monday and identified as Snow Geese. I am satisfied that these are the 
same birds seen yesterday and they were in nearly the same location along the 
pond's shoreline.  

    (2)  on reconsideration, these birds appear to be Ross's Geese and I have 
no idea why or how I got Monday's identification  wrong.   

The photo below was taken Monday by Richard Kretz.  Thanks to Rick Knight for 
getting the correct ID on these birds and calling it to my attention.   This is 
a good example of how a photo from Monday provided reassurance that the birds 
we saw today are the same birds seen Monday.  Thanks to Richard for providing 
this excellent photo and for his fine photography skills.

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

JPEG image

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