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Goose ID (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter punta
- Start date
Steve Lister
Senior Birder, ex County Recorder, Garden Moths.
It has to be a Greylag on size but quite possibly has something else in there somewhere to account for the dark neck and slightly odd head shape. maybe a second or third gerneration hybrid??
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Hello,
(presuming location is somewhere in Britain?)
agree with Steve, sheer bulk and large size points to a Greylag.
And I agree with him, the strange features can be explained by a hybrid.
Better wait for more comments. Thanks Jörn and all!
(presuming location is somewhere in Britain?)
agree with Steve, sheer bulk and large size points to a Greylag.
And I agree with him, the strange features can be explained by a hybrid.
- Neck and plumage is not only darker, but brownish
- Lower neck is even warmer, tofee brown, like in some Canada x Greylag hybrids (where it's often gradual)
- With much wishful thinking I think I just can make out the ghosting of a Canada Goose head pattern, or better of a hybrid, as the paler patch seems rounded
- But the pale cheek-patch seems to be placed unusual towards the neck
- Are there some whitish feathers on the breast?
- The bill seems bleached pinkish, bad for a Greylag, where it is bright pink-orange at best (?)
Better wait for more comments. Thanks Jörn and all!
Joern Lehmhus
Well-known member
I would love to see more photos of that bird , no matter how bad. I am not fully convinced this is Canada x Greylag.
I get a feeling of an Anser x Anser hybrid and of Bean goose involvement , but I could be totally wrong- these photos are not suitable for a save ID and can´t even exclude Alexanders putative ID as a Canada x Greylag (which may well be right)
The only thing we can say is it doesn´t look like a pure Greylag....
Did you by any chance see the tail- if all dark, then it is Anser x Branta ( and then from size and coloration can only be Canada x Greylag)
But if the tail was colored like in Anser geese with white end and sides and a darker pattern from base of tail feathers to the middle or a bit furtehr towards tip ---see tail feathers of greylag as upper row on the right in this link:
--- then it must be an Anser x Anser hybrid
I get a feeling of an Anser x Anser hybrid and of Bean goose involvement , but I could be totally wrong- these photos are not suitable for a save ID and can´t even exclude Alexanders putative ID as a Canada x Greylag (which may well be right)
The only thing we can say is it doesn´t look like a pure Greylag....
Did you by any chance see the tail- if all dark, then it is Anser x Branta ( and then from size and coloration can only be Canada x Greylag)
But if the tail was colored like in Anser geese with white end and sides and a darker pattern from base of tail feathers to the middle or a bit furtehr towards tip ---see tail feathers of greylag as upper row on the right in this link:
--- then it must be an Anser x Anser hybrid
Last edited:
seawatcher
Well-known member
Looks to me like a greylag with traces of another Anser, possibly bean or pink-foot. Any better photos of the bill, or at least did you note bill colour? SW
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