Cackling Goose:

So after voting on Election Day of 08 I got my first pictures of a beautiful Cackling Goose. Rahway River Park in (drum roll please) Rahway NJ is about 5-10 minutes away from my old stomping grounds in Linden NJ so I was comfortable getting to the location. The park is quite large and is actually a good spot for birds tucked into a highly populated area. I saw my first Wood Duck (who can’t remember their first Wood Duck??) there in March of 2007. Two other birders (even a historic election can’t keep us away from our birds!) helped find the bird. I quickly lost him but was lucky enough to get around at a different angle and get some close up looks and photos after re-finding him. It was interesting seeing him up close because it was highly evident that he was different from the surrounding Canada Geese. I am now sure that the many Canada Geese I have tried to make into a Cackling Goose over the last two years were indeed not. The difference in neck length and bill size were highly identifiable and I feel much more confident about identifying them in the future. On November 4th, 2008 I had to vote between two similar candidates. The choice was easy. Cackling beats Canada in a landslide.