Date: 3/4/26 4:31 pm From: Ross Silcock via groups.io <silcock...> Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Snow/Ross's isn't on eBird
Interesting point re distribution of Ross's within Snow flocks. In my experience, if there are a large number of Ross's, they tend to sort into bunches of Ross's. If there are only a few, they tend to hang around the edges of the Snow flock, although that may be because a small number randomly dispersed inside the flock could be easily missed.
I'll have to investigate the "tuckiness" tendencies of white geese!
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From: <NEBirds...> <NEBirds...> on behalf of William Flack via groups.io <sparvophile...>
Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2026 6:13 PM
To: <NEBirds...> <NEBirds...>
Subject: Re: [NEBirds] Snow/Ross's isn't on eBird
Thanks, Ross! 2% is consistent with the one attempt I made to figure the percentage: a medium-sized flock on Cochran Lake in Scotts Bluff County, where I went through carefully looking at bills. I figured that of the birds whose bills I could see well enough to identify species, about 1 in 40 were Ross's.
However, I have to attach a caution to that. I was assuming that I was seeing a random sampling of the flock. If head-tucking behavior varies between the species, I might've undercounted the tuck-ier species. And if Ross's tend to stick together, rather than dispersing randomly among the Snows, then my sample might've been biased.
