VA Birders,
Joanna Taylor and I decided to go down to Nokesville, in Prince William
Co., this morning, to look for the Ross's Goose that had been reported in a
flock of Canadas there. We reached Parkgate Drive about 10:30 am, but on our
first run we didn't find a single Canada Goose there or on Colvin Lane, where
the
Ross's had also been reported. After an hour or more of searching, we
decided to check the Prince William dump, to see if we could find the Iceland
Gull.
No luck there either, so we decided to retrace our route and then look for
someplace to have lunch and a rest stop. Heading back north on Parkgate, we
finally spotted a large flock of geese at the back of a farm field on the right
side of the road, between Valley View Drive (I never saw a sign with the street
name but there were signs for Rt. 611 and no thru trucks) and Aden Road. I
spotted the white ROSS'S GOOSE in the large flock of CANADA GEESE, and we were
able to confirm its identification with our scopes. It was much smaller than
the Canadas, and it had a short, stubby pink bill with no grin mark. After we
had good looks at the Ross's Goose, which was a new Virginia bird for Joanna,
and only my second or third in the state, we decided to search the flock of
Canada's more carefully to see if we could find any other small geese among
them. Joanna soon spotted a CACKLING GOOSE, which really looked like a
minature
goose, with a much smaller bill, walking next to a large Canada Goose. With
our mission accomplished, we celebrated with lunch at Joe's Pizza & Subs (I
think that's the name) in a little shopping center at the corner of Fitzwater
Drive and Rt. 28 before heading home.
Happy New Year and Good Birding in 2007,
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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