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Re: Cackling Geese Population

zach schwartz-weinstein
 

Hi Scott,

In short, no, probably not.  We are a thousand miles east of the core winter range of Richardson’s Cackling Goose, the easternmost subspecies of cackling.  Any large gatherings are likely to be mostly or entirely one of the Canada populations.  There is one record of 79 cackling geese in eBird from the finger lakes eleven years ago, but we don’t get numbers anywhere near that in our region.  The best way to settle this would be photo documentation, of course.

On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 7:22 PM Scott Varney <scottvarney1968@...> wrote:
I have a question.  Is it possible to have a population (about 30 birds) of Cackling Geese in our region?  

Each day (during the cold season) I drive along Route 29 from Salem to Schuylerville, following the bends of the Battenkill River.  In Greenwich, near Heppatica Way (a private lane), I have been seeing approximately 30 Geese that are all stubby-billed and slightly larger than a Mallard duck. 

They keep themselves upsream and isolated from the much larger Canada Geese that are found on the much wider portions of the river closer to the village.  I see them every day in the winter at 7:15 am and again at about 2:45 pm.   There is nowhere to park the car and traffic is a bit scary.  

Has anyone else noticed this flock?  

Tomorrow (day off work), I'm going to park at the Town beach and trek to the spot with my camera...and hopefully solve my 3-year long riddle...and yes, I know about the smaller subspecies of Canada Geese.

Share your thoughts?

Scott Varney
Salem, NY

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Zach Schwartz-Weinstein
203 500 7774
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