[TN-Bird] Lesser Canada Goose?

At Bretton Ford (Tennessee NWR, Henry County), today January 24 2007--

There were about 10 smaller "Canada" Geese that looked to me like  
what I always thought were the "Lesser Canada Geese" in my Colorado  
days, B. c. parvipes.  As is typical, they were all together in their  
own subflock, separate from the bigger Canadas.  They were small and  
short-necked, but just not quite small, short-necked, square-headed,  
or small-billed enough for me to want to call them Cacklers.  As most  
everyone has had to learn in the last year, this is the smallest  
subspecies that is still included in the Canada Goose, B.  
canadensis.  Before the split, it was considered either the smallest  
of the "large forms" or the largest of the "small forms,"  
inconsistently.  I found it to be the most common "small form" in  
Colorado by far, vastly outnumbering true "cacklers."  But my  
impression had been that this was a western and southwestern bird  
primarily.  I didn't expect to encounter them this far east.  What is  
the situation?  Is the "Lesser" Canada Goose an expected bird here?   
Andf just to complicate things more, from what I understand, the  
eastern Cackling Goose populations are the largest... and I'm not  
even sure they can be reliably separated from Lesser Canadas all the  
time.

???

Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
      To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
                    tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________ 
                To unsubscribe, send email to:
                 tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
            with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                ------------------------------
                Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                         Cleveland, OH
                -------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                          Rosedale, VA
__________________________________________________________
         
          Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
              web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                          ARCHIVES
 TN-Bird Net Archives at http://www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                  EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________

Other related posts: