I was taking a picture of a fall scene at Garden City Park --a raft of Canada Geese in the foreground, a fluffy, yellow, exfoliating tree in the background, when suddenly...
one of the geese stretched up and waved its wings, as if to say, "Look at me! I'm special!" It was indeed special, unlike any Canada Goose I have seen before.
It appears to be a hybrid, half Canada Goose, half Graylag (i.e., barnyard) Goose. A google image search ("Canada Goose hybrid") shows other Canada X Graylag hybrids, some of which resemble this bird, others with a cleaner delineation of the Canada's head pattern. Perhaps the extent of that trait depends on the Graylag parent, whether it was an all-white (barnyard) individual, or the wild Graylag form. In any case, thanks, goose, for drawing my attention. You are special.
8 comments:
Hello,
How interesting. I have never seen one like that either. We do get Canadian Geese down here in Arizona in the winter and they are beautiful.
Next time I see some, I will have to look more closely to see if there might be a "special goose".
Interesting - I just saw two white geese hanging out with a flock of Canada geese today down at the Courtenay estuary. Will have to look through the Canada's to see if there are any special geese with them as well.
What a great vignette! Thanks for sharing it.
It seems to be a day for anomalous birds. "Huckleberry" saw a possible wigeon/mallard cross, and we saw an odd mallard-like duck, with a long neck, and diving like a grebe.
What a great goose! I clicked on your image to get a better view. So glad you had your camera at the ready...
Greetings from Toronto! I saw a goose like that (complete with show-off wing flapping) a couple of years ago:
http://beechwoodwetland.blogspot.com/2007/05/update-on-odd-goose-i-posted-pics-on.html
What a great shot--it made me smile! I've never seen a CG hybrid either--very interesting indeed.
Great sighting and capture of the hybrid goose.
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