You should remember previous posts which mention the Cornell School of Ornithology’s app, Merlin. This app was very useful this afternoon when I needed to ID a white goose. The bird had to be a Ross’s or Snow Goose … both rare for this part of North America, but which one?? Merlin allows one to request an ID using a photograph of the bird which you upload.

Thanks to Merlin I know that the white goose was a Ross’s Goose, not a Snow Goose. These birds look very similar. Some other birding notes from today:

• Snow buntings are starting to appear in decent numbers along the roadsides north of Duluth
• Strong winds out of the north the past few days have spurred on the migration of truly “northern birds”. An amazing number of purple finches are hanging out at my feeders, and the first Snowy Owl in the Lower 48 was seen in northern Wisconsin.