I have now seen Emperor Geese in three Oregon Counties that behaved liked
pigeons in a park: one at Reed College canyon Jan 1984 , one at Washi gton Co
main library when there were lots of Cacklers using the place Oct 2012 maybe?
And one near the Astoria airport, equally long ago. I'm not saying the Sauvie
bird is healthy. But l don't expect Emperors to show flock fidelity to any of
the host of honkers it's exposed to here in the southland. The southern
half of Sauvie Island is private and hunting may occur any day of the week from
half an hour before sunrise until half an hour after sunset. Typically
waterfowl season begins the middle Saturday of October and includes a variety
of goose species in the roster of fair game. The presence of Dusky Canada Geese
means anyone wishing to hunt geese in the special management area(much of nw
Oregon far beyond Sauvie as well) must take a class in white-cheeked goose ID.
From here down to Eugene is the world's largest cohort of people capable of
distinguishing subspecies on the wing. I believe the publicly owned part of the
island, Sauvie Island WMU, allows waterfowl hunting from opening hours til noon
about three days a week. Some areas are by reservation well in advance, others
first come first serve. If this Emperor behaves as the three mentioned above,
it may avoid the trophy hunters. There was an Emperor flying hither and
yon at Alsea Bay with Western Canada Geese in 2006/7? The same winter there was
a Gyrfalcon at Basket. It was eventually harvested by a highly motivated
webfooted nimrod. LpnSent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
