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Goose (1 Viewer)

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spoko

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My son and I are just starting to learn more about bird identification. At a local park yesterday, we saw the birds in this picture. It obviously seems like some kind of goose, but we're not sure which. The knob on the bill is confusing, and so are the ones with black bills. Can anyone help identify them?

Thanks!
 

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spoko said:
My son and I are just starting to learn more about bird identification. At a local park yesterday, we saw the birds in this picture. It obviously seems like some kind of goose, but we're not sure which. The knob on the bill is confusing, and so are the ones with black bills. Can anyone help identify them?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The birds with Black bills are domestic Chinese Swan Goose and the others are hybrid Chinese Swan Goose/Greylag. There also also a 'wonderful' variety of Mallard ducks behind them, showing the diversity of the domestic types of these! A single Greater Canada Goose is at the back/
 
Tideliner said:
A wood duck in the top left side of the photo next to the far path.
Click to expand...

As well on the far right. Is that a Ruddy Duck on the far right side of the picture, closest to the path (I can see a white cheek), or is it only another Woody? Hope you don't mind I circled a few ducks in your picture. The Wood Ducks are in red, and the possible Ruddy in green. There may be another species back in there, but when I zoom in it gets all pixelly.
 

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Thanks for all the responses so far.

There definitely weren't any ruddy ducks there--I would have gotten pictures if there had been. We identified the wood ducks pretty easily, as well as the mallards and the Canada geese. We did have a question about another species there. It is a black duck with white breast, and pink feet. (Pictures attached.) It seems like there were some hybrids between this and the mallards, also.

Also, we keep seeing references to "domestic" ducks and geese. What does that word mean, exactly, in this context? They aren't really in captivity, since they're loose at a public park. But what does "domestic" mean here?
 

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Domestic Duck refers to Mallard that have been bred for meat, eggs or their looks. They often escape, or are released, and, as they are still technically Mallard, interfered with wild birds. This means you end up with a bewildering variety of different looking birds - that are referred to as 'Domestic Duck', 'Mucky Ducks', 'Yuck Ducks' and, quite often, worse names. One thing to look out for is the couple of curly feathers above the tail. If it has them then it's a male Domestic Duck - regretfully the females don't have them but you'll soon learn to recognise the general look. The black duck with the white breast is another form of Domestic Duck. Behind the log at the rear of the Chinese Geese and Greylag x Chinese, in the first photo, there is the head of a Greylag x Canada peeking out. I think the top two birds to the right of the tree trunk, in the first photo, may be Ruddy Ducks, at least the right hand one of the two has the appearance of a male.

Chris
 
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"Domestic" as used on this forum is short-hand for "a breed that originated in captivity". For example, the white-necked ducks look like DuClairs, a particularly tasty breed of mallard originating on farms in France. In this case the individual birds are now wild, so would best be described as "feral."
 
Locostella said:
There are polite ways to ask questions too, you know, sir. You should give it a try, it really does work wonders.

Kieran
Click to expand...

You have to allow for the fact that many on here have English as a second language. Although Stonechats questions may come over as a bit terse they are, in German, perfectly polite.

Chris
 
chris butterworth said:
Behind the log at the rear of the Chinese Geese and Greylag x Chinese, in the first photo, there is the head of a Greylag x Canada peeking out.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm attaching another picture of this goose, just to be sure.

chris butterworth said:
I think the top two birds to the right of the tree trunk, in the first photo, may be Ruddy Ducks, at least the right hand one of the two has the appearance of a male.
Click to expand...

From the pictures I find online, it seems that Ruddy Ducks have a brownish-red color, a blue bill, a white cheek, and tailfeathers that stick up. We were at the park looking at these birds closely for quite a while, and didn't see any duck that met any of those criteria.
 

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I would check the fat black duck at the right upper corner (standing around much smaller mallards) for possible Muscovy. They can also hybridize with Mallards; we have one feral hybrid at Sava/Danube confluence.
 
chris butterworth said:
You have to allow for the fact that many on here have English as a second language. Although Stonechats questions may come over as a bit terse they are, in German, perfectly polite.

Chris
Click to expand...
My question may be short but essential. In no way it´s uncordious as you already explained. Thanks, Chris!

@Kieran aka Locostella:
If you have problems to understand my English I´m really sorry.
I can only offer that I will write my comments in future in German, Polish or Slovakian. Which language would you prefer?
 
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