White-fronted goose in St James Park (1 Viewer)

[sarahandcolin]

Saw this goose in St James' Park yesterday (on its own). Am I right in thinking it's a white-fronted goose? And would it be considered wild in this location?

 

[Andy Adcock]

Yes, W-f Goose, no, not wild, unless it is an exhausted bird that dropped in on the way back to Russia?

They even had Red-breasted Goose the last time I was there.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Sarah,
welcome to birdforum!
Imo its a Canada x Greylag Goose hybrid. Please note:

• pale area on cheks ghosting a Canada-Goose head
• real black upper neck
• real black, not just blackish-darlk primaries, contrasting with brown back (wrong colour for a White-fronted Goose)

 

[Andy Adcock]

Guilty of not looking properly, well, it's only a Goose!

 

[ryckfour]

Not convinced that this is a White-fronted Goose. Pale cheeks suggest a hybrid - also quite bulky. Greylag-Canada?

 

[Deb Burhinus]

Not convinced that this is a White-fronted Goose. Pale cheeks suggest a hybrid - also quite bulky. Greylag-Canada?

As Alex already stated! 😉

St James’ Park is full of domestic geese and an array of manky ducks and birds of captive origin and various exotics - anything is possible!

But I agree with Alex, it looks good for a Greylag x Canada.

Welcome to Birdforum, Sarah and Colin!!
Glad you are out and about enjoying St James’ - one of London’s finest 🙂

 

[sarahandcolin]

Thank you for the replies! I am learning

 

[ryckfour]

One for the moderators (or someone who understands the website) - I posted my reply a couple of minutes after the original post but initially got error messages (3 times) and the post then took about 20 minutes to appear. Not a major problem but thought I should flag it up.

 

[stevethehydra]

St James's Park has all sorts of hybrid geese knocking about, including a family of Bar-headed x Greater White-fronted and backcrosses. This one does look like a Canada hybrid, and certainly is within the (very varied) appearance range of Canada x (domestic/feral) Greylag... I am wondering if it is possible to exclude Canada x GWF, or even Canada x one of the aforementioned Bar-headed/GWF hybrids, though??

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Thanks Steve to jump in, I didnt know, that there are so much hybrids in St. James Park (I was there only once).
While its clear imo, that one parent is a Canada Goose, the other is more difficult, at least for me. But the following points seemed good for a Greylag Goose:

• pale greater coverts with a slight greyish tinge. Many Canada x Greylags from Germany have slightly or even clearly paler/greyer greater coverts than Canadas (yes, I know, GWF can have paler, more greyish greater coverts, too)
• a white blaze is regular in those hybrids. I know, this doesnt exclude a GWF hybrid, but I have seen so many whitefronted (presumed) Canada x Greylags before, that I dont lay much in these feature.

But you are right to be cautious, when there are so many different hybrids there. Conclusion? I hope for more and detialed comments. Its an interesting topics, because there may be rarer hybrids overlooked, with biased knowledge, that Canada x Greylag is by far the most common hybrid with Canada Goose involved, at least in Germany.