• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Unusual Alliance? (1 Viewer)

ricklawes

Birding for Fun
These two definitley an item, my limited experience seems to point to the smaller being a Pink-footed, if it is ,is this a usual relationship?
 

Attachments

  • Unlikley union.jpg
    Unlikley union.jpg
    25.9 KB · Views: 126
  • Water Birds 017.jpg
    Water Birds 017.jpg
    23.1 KB · Views: 79
ricklawes said:
These two definitley an item, my limited experience seems to point to the smaller being a Pink-footed, if it is ,is this a usual relationship?


They are both Greylags. Maybe the male is a bit bigger??

Steve
 
Whitethroat said:
Would it be a unusual relationship? Just consider all the strange looking duck hybrids. There are even reports about relationships between Goldeneye and Smew.
Have a look at the pictures on this site:
http://www.bavarianbirds.de/mix/ardea0.html
The bird is supposed to be a hybrid, Grey Heron x Purple Heron.

Eckart

I saw Grey Heron/GW Egrets and GW Egret/little Egrets in the Champagne Lakes last year. I see a lot of hybrids!
 
Steve Lister said:
They are both Greylags. Maybe the male is a bit bigger??

Steve
Thanks Steve, seen lots of Greylags ,never seen such a difference in size as between this pair, maybe not so obvious from pics ,coupled with the shorter neck .
Ar well no tick for P-F-G.

Do you know why some of the greylags have pink feet and some orange?

Thanks for response

Rick
 
Woodchatshrike said:
I saw Grey Heron/GW Egrets and GW Egret/little Egrets in the Champagne Lakes last year. I see a lot of hybrids!
Hi Woodchatshrike,

I'm amazed you didn't see more than that if you were in the Champagne :-O ..........................its alright I'm leaving now...............
 
ricklawes said:
These two definitley an item, my limited experience seems to point to the smaller being a Pink-footed, if it is ,is this a usual relationship?
These two at Oare by any chance?

Woody
 
ricklawes said:
These two definitley an item, my limited experience seems to point to the smaller being a Pink-footed, if it is ,is this a usual relationship?

The smaller one is a typical wild greylag Goose.
The bigger one is a quite fat farmyard Goose (maybe feral), which has Greylag for ancestor.

In a number of european countries (UK for example), hybridization between feral farmyard Geese and Greylag are frequent, as hybridization between Canada Geese and farmyard (or Greylag) goose...

And about legs, they are always pink (more or less light, according to the individuals and the subspecies: A.a.anser or A.a. rubrirostris).
If you see a Greylag with orange legs, you can be sure that this bird have some domestic genes or of another species (for example: hybrid Greylag X Great-White-Fronted or Greylag X Bean)


Best regards...
 
Vinch said:
The smaller one is a typical wild greylag Goose.
The bigger one is a quite fat farmyard Goose (maybe feral), which has Greylag for ancestor.

In a number of european countries (UK for example), hybridization between feral farmyard Geese and Greylag are frequent, as hybridization between Canada Geese and farmyard (or Greylag) goose...

And about legs, they are always pink (more or less light, according to the individuals and the subspecies: A.a.anser or A.a. rubrirostris).
If you see a Greylag with orange legs, you can be sure that this bird have some domestic genes or of another species (for example: hybrid Greylag X Great-White-Fronted or Greylag X Bean)


Best regards...
Thanks for your comments, very useful,so much to learn !!!!

regards
 
ricklawes said:
Hi Woody

No at New Hythe this morning on the main lake.

Regards
I ask because I saw what appeared to be an oversized greylag at Oare over the weekend. I took some pics and will post them tomorrow. Not only was the large bird a deal bigger than the others but it also looked a little lighter in colour and I thought at the time maybe it had some domestic in it.

Woody
 
Warning! This thread is more than 18 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top