The Nervous Ross's Goose
One of the reasons I wanted to do the DuPage Hotline was that I
would find out about cool birds immediately (pure greed, I know).
That strategy paid off on Sunday, late in the afternoon, when I
got a call from Peter Kasper that there was an immature Ross'
Goose at Fermilab. He gave me precise directions and since there
was a little light left and I live about 5 minutes from the lab,
I hopped in the car, threw the red light on the roof and
skidaddled (just kidding about the red light...I did use the
siren though).
I drove around the area where the bird was reported (the buffalo
field for those of you familiar with the lab) and spotted the two
immature white-phase Snow Geese that have been hanging around for
a couple of weeks. Need to be careful about those two.
Finally, I saw a patch of white that was all by itself and pulled
over. The light was failing, but I managed to get a very
satisfactory look at the Ross' Goose. The only other time I have
seen one was last year, also at Fermilab, but it was a very short
glimpse through binoculars when I should have been using a scope.
Sunday, I had my scope and was able to watch the bird for a few
minutes. It was interesting to observe its behavior. It was
really starting to get dark and you could sense that it was
uneasy. All of the Canada Geese that it was feeding with seemed
to be jumpy and there seemed to be lots of discussion about
whether it was time to go. It looked like the Ross' was
uncomfortable with them, but was also stuck with them.
I imagined that the Ross' had found itself in the company of
these gray birds and thought that "well, they seem to be, sort
of, kind of relatives and maybe I'll just hang out with them. I
don't understand a thing they are saying but I'll just follow
their lead. All this 'Honk this' and 'Honk that.' Maybe they
know where some water is where I can spend the night. Whoops,
are they going, no, not yet, that was another group. Boy, I hope
they don't leave without me, I'd sure hate to be stuck in this
field all night. Ok, they're honking a lot now. Geez they are
a
noisy lot. I wonder if that means...yep, here we goooooo!
And with that, the bird took off for the "Water and Weeds" Bed
and Breakfast.
Jim Frazier
11/22/94 |
|
