[EBB Sightings] Fremont geese

January 3 (near entrance road leading to boat area): 1 very small and very dark-chested RIDGWAY'S CACKLING GOOSE.

January 6: (south of tennis courts near intersection of Stevenson and Gallaudet): A sort of mini-group of five unidentified geese which stuck pretty much together as they wandered around foraging in association with our usual Moffitt's.  The members of the group consisted of two larger and three smaller.  The larger appeared definitely smaller than small (presumably female) Moffitt's and appeared to have bills that are different in shape and relative size.  Also I believe both larger and smaller unidentified are considerably larger than Aleutian but no Aleutian was available for comparison.  The bird in the photo of December 28 had a nice black gular stripe.  I got a look at the throats of a couple of the unidentified birds and neither had the dark stripe. The larger were much more alert and concerned with me, while the smaller concentrated on feeding.  As to larger versus smaller within the five -- to me the head and bill look similar, I think the smaller had relatively shorter necks.  Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the two forms in the Group of Five with Moffitt's for direct comparison.
 
I would be grateful for opinions on what these geese might be.
Photos are on PBase --  http://www.pbase.com/johncant/waterfowl

January 7: The immature SNOW GOOSE seen the previous day by Stephanie Floyd was present, plus a cackling which I think was RIDGWAY'S but the head shape was not quite as distinctive as some I have seen.  Also, some distance from the Moffitt's mob were 7 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE.

John Cant
Fremont
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