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UK - ID Help , possible Snow goose (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Mazza71
- Start date
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- white goose
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Hello Mazza,
welcome to Birdforum!
Its a hybrid between a Canada Goose and a white/leucistic domestic Canada Goose imo.
There are some threads about the difficult identification challenge, that birds like yours provide here on Birdforum. And a few of the worlds foremost experts here, that can shed more light on this.
I have yet to see a wild Snow or Ross Goose, but triangular bill with high transition to the forehead that your bird shows is often a good indication of a domestic Greylag.
And the chequered/piebald pattern of blackish and dark-grey feathers (scapulars and coverts) on an otherwise white wing is regular/sometimes (?) present in white domestic Greylag (and Canada Geese too? Jörn and others, thanks you know).
If ou can cope with german, a helpful site is here: https://nwv-schwaben.de/files/Natur...10-Hasler-Hybride-Streifengans-Schneegans.pdf
welcome to Birdforum!
Its a hybrid between a Canada Goose and a white/leucistic domestic Canada Goose imo.
There are some threads about the difficult identification challenge, that birds like yours provide here on Birdforum. And a few of the worlds foremost experts here, that can shed more light on this.
I have yet to see a wild Snow or Ross Goose, but triangular bill with high transition to the forehead that your bird shows is often a good indication of a domestic Greylag.
And the chequered/piebald pattern of blackish and dark-grey feathers (scapulars and coverts) on an otherwise white wing is regular/sometimes (?) present in white domestic Greylag (and Canada Geese too? Jörn and others, thanks you know).
If ou can cope with german, a helpful site is here: https://nwv-schwaben.de/files/Natur...10-Hasler-Hybride-Streifengans-Schneegans.pdf
Did you not mean Greylag Goose in both cases here, Alexander?
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Hello Simon,
thanks for pointing out my mistake. Didnt noticed it.
The sentence should read: Its a hybrid between a Canada Goose and a white/leucistic domestic Greylag imo.
thanks for pointing out my mistake. Didnt noticed it.
The sentence should read: Its a hybrid between a Canada Goose and a white/leucistic domestic Greylag imo.
lou salomon
the birdonist
What makes you think that Canada Goose is an ancestor (either generation) in this bird, Alexander? Couldn't it be a hybrid Greylag x Domestic (Greylag) instead?
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Hello,
thanks Lou and Aeshna!
I thought the following features point towards Canada Goose influence, but you are surely right:
thanks Lou and Aeshna!
I thought the following features point towards Canada Goose influence, but you are surely right:
- a few real black feathers on the crown, together with the few grey ones leaving an oval large white patch on the head.
- quite a short stubby, triangular bill for a Greylag (reminiscent of Martin from the anime Nils Holgersson). But yes, this is present in some Domestic Geese too.
- I judged the feathers on the middle neck as black, but I am not so sure anymore.
- The appearant thin pale terminal fringe seemed better for a Canada Goose pattern at first (with the fringe enhancing the shape of the feather), while Greylags regular have broader fringes, that form a more uniform striped pattern. But I am not sure, this is a real feature here.
stevethehydra
Well-known member
I'm confident this bird is part Canada Goose - it's very typical of Canada x white domestic [Greylag or Swan/Chinese] goose hybrids.
They can be hard to tell from "just" domestic Greylag types, but Canada influence is shown by the longer and slimmer neck than Greylag, IMO more Canada-like bill shape, and this pattern with the patchy grey barring is very typical of that combination. The fact that it was associating with Canada Geese also suggests Canada parentage.
If you scroll down far enough you'll see similar (some whiter) birds here: domestic Greylag Goose x Canada Goose
They can be hard to tell from "just" domestic Greylag types, but Canada influence is shown by the longer and slimmer neck than Greylag, IMO more Canada-like bill shape, and this pattern with the patchy grey barring is very typical of that combination. The fact that it was associating with Canada Geese also suggests Canada parentage.
If you scroll down far enough you'll see similar (some whiter) birds here: domestic Greylag Goose x Canada Goose
