Hi All
I looked out my front window this morning at around 5:30 and noticed what I thought at first (i.e. I've seen local Cooper hawks carry squirrels away in the past) to be a hawk on my front yard stalking a rabbit which was hopping around the bushes. Closer observation revealed it to be some type of water fowl due to the duck type bill. Strange that a bird of this type to be in this semi urban area about a mile away from Lake Erie in the dark other than the street lights while it was snowing. I tried to identify it further through the internet and the closest I could determine, it as a Greater White-fronted Goose, although there is not one image that matches its' fully white body other than the top of its' wings leading up to an undefined (i.e. meaning it wasn't a sharp ring like Canada goose neck) ring around the middle of its' neck being dark brown or black in colour. Do colours amoung the same bird vary this much or have I identified the bird incorrectly? I know birds and animals change color due to time of year...could this be contributing to my inability to find a perfect image match on the internet? Anyways, when it started to get light out the bird must have flown away...must have gotten lost in the night or snow flying?
Your thoughts appreciated
Bill
Further searching reveals it more closely matches and probably was a Snow goose although most images were of the bird in flight which I missed.
