Bean Goose(Ans r Its) ,t Hoquiam,Washington: , first state record its base.This wasdistinctly different from purplishtones of CacklingCanada Geese. StevenG. Ulodinow the CanadaGeese, which seemedto nibble Thiscoloration fits both B.c. fulva and B.c. thegrass from the top. The flock (presum- occidentalis,two subspecies formerly treated 4819Gardner Avenue ablyfulva) with the BeanGoose was some- asa singlesubspecies under B.c. occidental- what skittish when alone but calmed down is (seePalmer 1976, Mowbray et al. 2002) Everett,Washington 98203 whenamong the largerflock that contained breedingcoastally from southeastern Alaska moffittiand others. In flight,the Bean Goose (Prince William Sound) to northern Vancou- gavea yelpingronk-onk call. ver Island,British Columbia, and wintering Thebird was grayish-brown throughout, ex- south to the lower Columbia River and Fieldencounter ceptfor white undertail and uppertail coverts. WillametteValley of westernOregon. In On 7 December2002, while scouring for a Itsbody color was quite similar to that of mq/- size, the seven dark Canada Geesewere no- ChristmasBird Count, Patrickand Ruth Sul- fitti, but a bit darkerand richer.The head, ticeablylarger than the B.c. taverni/parvipes livanfound an adultBean Goose (Anser fa- neck,and underparts were generally unmarked thatoften foraged nearby and were similar in balis) in the companyof seven Canada andfairly uniform in hue,but there was a mot- sizeto theB.c. tnoffittialso present. Because Geese.The flock was feeding along the run- fleddark dusky patch at andbehind the tarsi fulvaaverages slightly larger than occidental- way of a smallairport next to Bowerman (borderingthe undertail coverts). The upper is, andthus closer in sizeto tnoffitti,these BasinNational Wildlife Refuge,Hoquiam, neckand head were a bit darkerthan the chest, wereprobably Vancouver Canada Geese. GraysHarbor County, Washington. The Sul- particularlyon the anteriorface neat the bill, Thereare no knowndiagnostic plumage [ivansreturned the next day to photograph where the color was also richer. There were characteristicsto separatefulva and occidental- it, whereuponnews of its discoverybecame fine,darker longitudinal striations on the neck is; theirdifferentiation is based entirely on widespread.Over the ensuingmne days, it Thefolded wings were darker brown than the morphometrics(Pearce and Bollinger 2003). B. was seenby manyobservers, either at the underparts,with narrow pale terminal tips to c. fulva is intermediatebetween occidentalis airportor on nearbyball-fields and lawns.It theupperwing coverts and crisp, pale fringing andmoffitti m size;there is overlapin linear wasalways in the companyof sevenvery to the terrials,causing the wingsto look measurementsand weight between fulva and largedark CanadaGeese, likely Vancouver barred.Back color was similar to that of the un- occidentalisas well as betweenoccidentalis and CanadaGeese (Branta canadensis fulva); on derpartsand appeared unbarred. The tail was tnoffitti,though this is somewhatlimited manyoccasions, however, individuals from a blackish-brownwith a narrow whitish band at (Pearceand Bollinger 2003). Notably, all seven widevariety of raceswere present, predomi- the tip. of theBean Goose companions were similar in nantlyLesser/Taverner's (B.c. parvipes/tav- Thebill waslarge, long, and mostly black, sizeto each other, and they were very similar in erneri)and Western (B.c. tnoffitti)but also exceptfor a narrow,pale yellow-orange subter- sizeto nearby moffitti. It seemsunlikely that all Dusky(B.c. occidentalis) and Cackling (B.c. minalband occupying the distal portion. The sevenof thesedark Canadas were at thevery tninitna),affording multiple opportunities profileof thebill, combinedwith the sloped largeend of occidentalisand that the nearby for comparisonof sizeand structure. It was forehead,recalled that of an immature Trum- moffittiwere also all smaller than average. Con- last seen 17 December 2002. peterSwan (Cygnus buccinator). The culmen sequently,the Bean Gooses companions were Theweek prior had been one of mild tem- wasconvex, and there was a minimalbulge to mostlikely fulva. peraturesand mist/fog on Washingtons outer the lowermandible. The foreheadoften ap- Whenfirst separated from occidentalis, fulva coast. The Bean Goose was found on 7 Decem- pearedto havea bumpjust in frontof, or over, wasthought to be a largelynon-migratory ber(but could have been present for some time theeye, although this was somewhat depend- (A.O.U.1957, Ogilvie and Young 1998). More at thisinfrequently visited location), and on 9 enton thebirdg activity and posture, being recently,however, a fewbirds have been found Decemberpersistent, strong southerly winds mostevident during feeding. The legswere winteringsouth as far as the Willamette Valley (averaging15.5 mph/25.4 kph) began. These brightorange and quite stout, being somewhat of westernOregon (Ratri and Timm 1979, subsidedon17 December, thelast day the Bean thicker than those of a Canada Goose of simi- Mowbrayet al.2002). The estimated fall pop- Goosewas seen, which would suggest that its lar size. ularionof VancouverCanada Geese is in excess departurewas weather-related. of 84,000(Delany and Scott 2002). A recent TheBean Goose companions: studyof harvested btrds inirially considered oc- Description VancouverCanada Goose cidentalisin southwesternWashington and A largebrown goose readily picked out from Thesubspecific identity of theRein Goose's northwesternOregon included 7.9-11.4% the CanadaGeese with whichit associated, companionshas potential implications both birdswith themtDNA genetic characteristics it wasas tall andlong as most of thefulva for the identification of the bird and for offalva(Pearce et al.2000). Small flocks offal- and tnoffittipresent but seemedsomewhat speculationabout its migrationroute The vahave also been found wintering near Torino, slimmer. It walked with an awkward bow- seven Canada Geese with which the Bean BritishColumbia (Hatlet et al. 1978),in Sno- leggedwaddle and often fed by anglingits Goose traveled were a rich dark brown homishCounty, Washington (D. Kraege,in headsideways and then pulling out grass at throughoutthe underpartsbut lackedthe litt.),and in YamhillCounty. Oregon (Hansen 298 NORTH AMERICAN BIRD 1962),though the latter(wintering) popula- April (Brazil 1991). Breedingpopulations 14-21 October1982 (Godfrey1982); a mid- tionmay no longer exist (B. Bales, in litt.).Mi- are estimated at 45,000-65,000 for ser- dendorffiidocumented at Cap Tourmente, gratingB.c. fulva are known to usethe south- rirostris,600,000 for rossicus,100,000 forf a- 14-15 October 1987 (Eckert 2000); a mid- ern Washingtoncoast (D. Krage, in litt.; balls, and 50,000-70,000 for middendorffii dendorffiiphotographed at DeSotoNational Hansen1962) and have apparently been found (Delany and Scott 2002). No population Wildlife Refuge,Nebraska/Iowa, 29 Decem- as far south as Del Norm and Humboldt Coun- dataare availableforjohanseni. ber 1984-10 January1985 (Wilson 1985, ties,California (Delacour 1954, A.O.U. 1957). In North America, Bean Geese are almost Wrightand Grenon1985); a middendorffii Furthercomplicating matters is that occidental- annualspring migrants in the westernAleu- documentedat Funk Lagoon,Nebraska, 4 is weretransplanted from the CopperRiver tians,casually as far east as Adak Island, and April 1998 (Sharpeet al. 2001);and a rossi- deltato the southernWashington coast in the are casual on the Pribilofs, St. Lawrence Is- cus/serrirostrisphotographed at Whitehorse, 1950s and have interbred with the residenl land, and the mainland coast of southern Yukon, 23-24 October 1999 (Eckert 2000). A moffitti(C. Stenvall,pers. comm., J. Welch, Alaska(A.O.U. 1998). There are only two fall previousBean Goose report from Hoquiam pers.corem). Iypically, offspring from these records from Alaska, neither identified to on 26 April 1993was quite likely correcdy pairingstend to be paler than pure occidentalrs race.Interestingly, both were in September identified (AmericanBirds 47: 447), but the orJulva(B. Bales, in litt.;P. Springer, in litt.). 2002, one at Gainbell, St. LawrenceIsland reportwas not acceptedby the Washington Ultimately,whether the companions of the andanother on Shemya Island (Tobish 2003). Bird RecordsCommittee, as the written de- BeanGoose at HoquiamwereJulva or occiden- AmongAlaskan spring records, there are five tailswere brief and the observerunaccompa- talismay not make much difference to specu- specimens,of whichfour havebeen identi- nied (Tweit and Skriletz 1996). lationabout the vagrancyvector of theBean fied as serrirostrisand one as middendorffii Goosein Washington.Both Vancouver Cana- (Gabrielsonand Lincoln 1959, Gibson and Identification da Geeseand Dusky Canada Geese breed in Kessel 1997). Furthermore, most Alaskan BesidesBean Goose, there is only one thefjords and marine areas of northern British birdsphotographed appear to be serrirostris speciesfitting the abovedescription: Pink- Columbia and Alaska. To the north of these (D. D. Gibson and T. G. Tobish, pers. footed Goose CA. brachyrhynchus).Pink- areas,the racesof CanadaGoose are smaller, comm.).Outside of Alaska,there are five pre- footed Geese,unlike the Hoquiam bird, anda largegoose such as a Beanmight not se- vious North American records: a rossicus typicallyhave pink legsand a pinkband on lect the smaller forms for flock-mates. It is specimenfrom Cap Tourmente,Quebec, thebill, thoughrarely individuals can show conceivable that the Bean Goose's aberrantsoft part coloration(Scott crossinginto the Nearcftcbrought