Date:         Sat, 21 Nov 1998 19:54:41 EST
Reply-To:     Huaxyacac@AOL.COM
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Alec Christensen <Huaxyacac@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Snow Geese etc.
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Spent an hour or two at the Merry Brick Ponds in Augusta this afternoon. Lots
of the usual stuff-- couple kestrels, dozens of cormorants and anhingas, a
Great Blue Heron or three, ditto for Great Egrets, couple Ring-Billed Gulls,
couple Pied-Billed Grebes, and all the coots one could ever want. Hundreds of
ducks in flight, and another couple hundred on the water but too far away for
me to securely id sans scope-- white wing patch suggested Bufflehead.
 
But there was also a flock of Snow Geese who were kind enough to be a bit
closer to the shore. My wife and I counted somewhere above thirty, and I ran
into someone else who had seen them this morning with a scope and counted 34.
More than half were blue morph, and there were several juvenals, both blue and
white.
 
And then, on the way out, we spooked a flock of Wood Storks feeding right next
to the road. Five at first, and then another three joined them. The ones that
I got a good look at were all juvenals, with lighter bills. I've never seen
storks this far north, and it seems particularly late-- the Birder's Guide
indicates that by November they should only be found in the lower coastal
plain. But the the Guide says Snow Geese are even rarer....
 
Alec Christensen
Augusta, GA