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All: Close inspection of the posted photos by Mike King, Hans Toom, and Tuma Young indicates the goose is in first-winter plumage. This may support its wild origin, as young birds without parental guidance may be more prone to wander. Adult-like plumage is acquired on the body during post-juvenile moult in fall, but some juvenile plumage is retained. This is best seen on Mike's photo of the bird with spread wings, on which the juvenile greater (outer) coverts show the characteristic asymmetrically pointed tips, with a long whitish margins. These are rounder with a small white tip in adults. Also, the median coverts have mix of old juvenile feathers (with buffy white tips) and a few apparent new ones. Another juv./1st winter feature shown on several of Hans' and Tuma's images is the colourless (whitish) eye-ring. Adults acquire a red or yellow eye-ring. Incidentally, the Greylag that turned up last year in Connecticut was clearly an adult in the above features. In order to add to our understanding of origins of this goose, it would be good to have higher-resolution images of the head (closer goose or better light) to clarify the eye-ring colour. Even more useful would be photos showing the feet and hind toes of the goose to confirm observations by Mike et al. that these were not clipped - a sign of prior captivity. Cheers, Ian Ian McLaren
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