Hybrid Canada X Greater White-fronted Goose (1 Viewer)

I was out birding attempting to see a Gray Flycatcher (which is rare for this area) and saw this goose. I believe it to be a hybrid Canada X Greater White-fronted. I dipped on the flycatcher the first time, but found it on my second try. The same goose was present during both attempts. Please see attached photos if interested. The photos have been cropped.

The first day I saw it was 6 May 2013, and the second was 9 May 2013.

I forgot to mention location. This bird was seen at Belmar Historic Park in Lakewood, Colorado, USA.

More likely is Canada x Graylag. How big was your bird?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fugl/405195763/in/set-72157627328036027

The bird was roughly the size expected of a Canada Goose in the Canada Goose (maxima/moffitti group) that eBird uses.

I am glad you brought up Graylag X Canada as we had not considered it. In looking around the internet in greater detail, I have found the following sites:
http://www.gobirding.eu/Photos/HybridGeese.php
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/domgeese.htm

These have photos of Graylag/domestic X Canada hybrids.

These, and the photo you provided, do look similar to the bird in my photos. How would you go about determining Graylag vs Greater White-fronted as the parents of this hybrid? Both Graylag and GWF are in Anser, so I would assume hybrids will be similar, but there are probably ways to tell them apart. I can't really find good photos of a confirmed GWF X Canada, so I am unsure on comparison. Admittedly, Graylag/domestic is a more likely parent than GWF, but it would be good to learn ID characters between the two hybrid types.

Thanks for the input.

cwbirder said:

The bird was roughly the size expected of a Canada Goose in the Canada Goose (maxima/moffitti group) that eBird uses.

How would you go about determining Graylag vs Greater White-fronted as the parents of this hybrid? Both Graylag and GWF are in Anser, so I would assume hybrids will be similar, but there are probably ways to tell them apart. I can't really find good photos of a confirmed GWF X Canada, so I am unsure on comparison.

Click to expand...

Me too and that's why I asked about the size of your goose as I would expect a Canada/GWF cross to be noticeably smaller than a "full-sized" Canada. But, I'm no expert. There are experts on hybrid waterfowl among BF regulars, however, and with luck one will come along soon to set us both straight.

I have decided it is a hybrid Canada X Graylag/domestic Goose. I was running errands today fairly close to the lake I saw it at and decided to check it out. I was able to find the same individual after about 30 minutes of searching. I would assume that GWF X Canada would inherit the migration pattern (or at least a migratory lifestyle) similar to that of the parent birds. If this bird is still here in late June, it seems to me that the parents would both have to be resident birds. That makes it the Graylag/domestic hybrid type. However, both today and previously, there are no domestic geese on this lake (though they may have been present in the past).

This seems to solve the problem of this particular individual, but does not answer the question of how to tell a GWF X Canada from a Graylag X Canada.