Two Ross's Geese were seen this morning at Craney Island in Porstmouth, Va.
I guess I should say "probable" Ross's Geese, since viewing conditions this
morning were admittedly poor. That, said, there are two birds which appear
to be Ross's hanging out with a group of 50 or so Canadas . This, of course,
makes it easy to tell which birds I'm talking about, 'cause you don't have
to sift through gobs of Snows looking for runts. The birds were seen about
8:00 this morning just south of the north cross-dike, about midway between
the east and west ends. When I first saw them, they were only about 100
yards south of the cross-dike. When I arrived, they became a little nervous
and walked slowly away, perhaps another 100 yards or so. There was fog and
intermittent drizzle this morning, so putting up a scope didn't give much
more detail than using binoculars did. Both birds looked to have a rounded
head, stubby bill, and lacked an apparent "grin patch". One of the two
birds had dark feathering on the crown, nape, and back of the neck.
Othwise, both birds liked like typical white morphs. Never saw either of
them fly.
There were also thousands and thousands of gulls, cormorants, pelicans and
even a few gannets working the James River along the west side of Craney.
I'd like to have spent time looking through the crowd to see if there was
anything unusual there, but I had to get going.
Note: Anyone going to Craney should be advised that the mosquito population
has greatly increased as a result of all the rain over the past month or so.
Expect to be attacked by hungry hordes. You should also be aware that West
Nile Virus was confirmed recently in mosquitos taken from a pond at
Churchland High School very close to Craney.
David Clark
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