Cackling Goose at Speedwell Lake, Morristown
Cackling Goose with Canada Geese, Morristown, NJ, Dec. 25, 2014 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
(Click on the photo for a larger image.)
A Cackling Goose remains faithful to Speedwell Lake in Morristown. It was present this morning and yesterday morning between 8-8:30. One was seen Sunday, December 21 on the Boonton Christmas Bird Count at nearby Fosterfields which could be the same individual.
Whereas sightings of Cackling Geese in Somerset County have become relatively commonplace, especially with all the thousands of geese wintering in that county, the same is not true in Morris County. There are approximately only six single reports in 2014, three of them from the past week and probably of the same individual as the Speedwell Lake goose.
Cackling Goose is a tricky species to identify. A good read is David Sibley’s recent article about Cackling-ish Geese. The link for the article is here.
Other Cackling Goose identification links follow:
- David Sibley: Distinguishing Cackling and Canada Goose
- Distribution and Identification of Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii) Subspecies
Cackling Goose with Canada Geese, Morristown, NJ, Dec. 25, 2014 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)
eBird Checklists for the mocosocoBirds region may be viewed via eBird’s Region Explorer. Use the following links:
The eBird Hotspot Primer is here and can also be accessed via the Hotspot menu item on the mocosocoBirds.com website.
@mocosocoBirds at Twitter is another communications stream. Instant field reports and links of interest are tweeted throughout the day. The latest tweets appear on the sidebar of this page. One can follow mocosocoBirds at Twitter or link to @mocosocoBirds.
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