Canada/Snow/Domestic Swan Goose Hybrids(EastTN) (1 Viewer)

[UnknownSpecies56]

Hey folks,

I found a park that had four odd looking geese among a large flock of about 60 Canadian geese and one domestic swan goose.

The first pic shows what at first I thought was a blue morph snow goose. However, when it flew off I didn't see much if any black at the tips of the wings. Some local fishermen said that this goose has been a permanent resident in the park for about four years.

The second goose also has a bill the color of a snow goose. Maybe it could be a true blue morph snow, or another hybrid?

The birds in the second and third pics have dark bills like a domestic swan goose, which as mentioned was seen in the flock of Canadian geese. They also seem to have some color patterns of Canadian geese. Could these be a Canadian/Domestic Swan hybrids?

Can anyone identify these birds?

Thanks,

 

[Birdbrain22]

First off, over the many years I have been birding, I never really spend any time studying "mutt" birds in the field. But this is what I am thinking here...
#1 Snow x Domestic mutts
#2 pretty sure it is just a blue phase Snow Goose
#3 & #4 look like Canada x Domestic mutts

 

[UnknownSpecies56]

Thanks BirdBrain. If #2 is a blue morph snow goose, I'm glad to have found at least one pure bred wild bird here.

 

[stevethehydra]

2 is a blue phase Snow. 3 and 4 are Canada x domestic (the domestic parent likely being of Swan Goose descent due to the long black bill in both cases, though 4 is less clear-cut on this than 3).

1 is the interesting bird to me! It does look like it could well be Snow x (probably Greylag-type) domestic, though weirdly I can't find any photos online of this hybrid combination. I have seen birds looking very similar to this one (except for being either all white or what markings they had being vaguely similar to this one but a much lighter grey) that I have thought *might* be Snow x domestic Greylag hybrids, but without any proof. Canada x white domestic Greylag hybrids can look a bit like this, but this one does have more of a Snow Goose "vibe" to it...

Joern Lehmus and Dave Appleton are the real hybrid waterfowl experts here, might be worth asking either of them if they have seen anything like this one...

 

[Dave Appleton]

Thanks for the heads up. I agree I can't see any reason to exclude pure Snow Goose for #2, though I think some might question your description of it being a "wild bird" - living in the wild perhaps but most likely originating either from captivity or at best from a small/temporary feral population and thus not "countable" wild.

#3 and #4 look like domestic Swan Goose x Canada Goose hybrids though I cannot exclude the quite likely possibility that the domestic parent had a mix of both Swan Goose and Greylag Goose genes.

Given the white primaries I think we must assume that at least some of the white plumage in #1 comes from domestic Goose parenthood. When domestic x Canada hybrids are so extensively white it can be hard to find concrete evidence of Canada parentage but I think that's what we have here though I agree this individual does recall Snow Goose a little more than usual. I suspect that's coincidental due to the pink bill (which seems to me to be less common than orange bills on similar birds, though possible) and pale nail (shown by a minority of domestic x Canada hybrids). I tend to put pale-billed birds down as domestic Greylag Goose x Canada Goose though I'm not sure if we can fully exclude the possibility that the domestic parent has at least some Swan Goose genes.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

I have to agree with Dave here that #1 is a canada x domestic.

I also agree on id of #2 as a blue morph snow goose and the other two as canada x chinese goose ; or canada x (a domesticgreylag x chinese goose hybrid)

 

[stevethehydra]

Do you know of any confirmed Snow x Greylag hybrids? It really surprises me that I don't think I have ever seen a definite example of this hybrid...