ML132590521

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

LIFER! Continuing. Juvenile bird first seen a month ago in N Park and more recently here. The adult was first ID'd by Ben Coulter last evening during the Pittsburgh CBC. The adult has a, dare I say it, "cute" appearance. The juvenile goose on the right is the much disputed possible Snow x Ross's hybrid first seen at N Park a month ago and more recently at Allegheny Cemetery. If this is a pure Ross's Goose, it is in the upper extreme of variability for the species as others have also noted. From my observations, this bird was slightly larger than the pure Ross's goose on the left with a larger bill. Also, the angle of the bill base and grin patch are much more pronounced than in the other bird. However, the bird has much less of a gray wash on its head than a juvenile snow goose, and has the Ross's telltale purplish-blue-gray base. The goose on the left is a pure Ross's Goose. Note the near vertical line of the bill base as well the purplish-blue-gray coloring of that base, the stubby bill, short neck and rounded head. A handheld digiscoped with my iPhone4 of the adult Ross's goose.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D70

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

0.01 sec

Dimensions

1764 pixels x 1299 pixels

Original file size

1.23 MB