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A goose is a goose but which one? (1 Viewer)

As far as I know, Snow Goose is the only goose that shows a grin patch like this one does.

Are we seeing tail feathers or some of the coverts being blown by the wind?

Do you have any other pictures of the bird? A side shot would be helpful.

Mike
 
Some sort of hybrid? The "grinning patch" is a Snow Goose characteristic, but I have never seen that dark of a pure "blue phase" Snow Goose!
 
Wow, that's an interesting goose. Reminds me of the stuffed heads of "jackalopes" (jackrabbits with antelope horns crudely attached) one used to see on the walls of western bars! ;)

Likely to be just a plumage aberration, I would think.
 
I don´t see anything different then a blue morph Snow Goose in that image. What speaks against it? And as Mike mentioned, no tail feather to see.
 
As Larry says, it's the extreme darkness that's disconcerting. Maybe it's just an effect of the angle/lighting, maybe something more; it's hard to tell from just the one photo.
 
Last edited:
fugl said:
As Larry says, it's the extreme darkness that's disconcerting. Maybe it's just an effect of thenangle/lighting, maybe something more; it's hard to tell from just the one photo.
Click to expand...

That bothered me, too.

And I have seen domestic greylags with a grin patch like a snow goose, so that doesn't strike me as definitive.
 
Jeff hopkins said:
That bothered me, too.

And I have seen domestic greylags with a grin patch like a snow goose, so that doesn't strike me as definitive.
Click to expand...

If a domestic greylag shows a grinning patch it is always weaker than in Snow in my experience . you can have some domestic greylag x chinese goose mixes like this one which have black on upper and lower mandible and a weaker grinning patch:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14195020@N08/8238259207/

but then the nail is at least partly black.


to me this is a blue morph snow goose just looking very dark.
 
stonechat1 said:
http://www.kleintierehueberhuettli.ch/images/Gaense/GaenseSumiswald.JPG
;)
Click to expand...
Yes that is about the strongest grinning patch you get in domestic geese. Definitely weaker than in Snow geese- but maybe not easy to see in this photo.
what you have linked there are Steinbacher Fighting geese , an old german breed with domestic greylag and Chinese goose genes.

compare closeups

Steinbacher:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k70/jaykayg/geese011a.jpg

Snow:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Snow_goose_1.jpg

The grinning patch in snow goose is much bigger in comparism to the bill size.
 
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