Friday, September 14, 2007

White Goose

Coming home from the grocery store I saw this white goose fly into a field with thirty or so Canada geese yesterday afternoon. I found a place to park in a business lot, I grabbed my binoculars and camera and started off after them. It took a while to get near enough for a photo as they were very hinky about my presence. At first I thought the white goose was a partial albino Canada goose but looking closer it was quite a bit larger with a thicker neck and bill. Here I am, throwing myself on your mercy for an id again! Would a domestic goose fly along with a wild flock? Could it be a hybrid?

What do you think?


17 comments:

RuthieJ said...

Hi Lynne,
Maybe a "white morph" juvenile Snow Goose? That was the closest I could find in my field guides.

Anonymous said...

I think that is what it is, too, Lynne. Pretty!

NatureWoman said...

I love your photos, Lynne! What a pretty goose!

Anonymous said...

Hmm, by behavior sounds like a hybrid domestic animal to me! Cute little guy/gal for sure!

Ruth said...

I have posted pictures of a few odd white geese and ducks in the wild. The consensus has been "domestic" each time. Who knows? There are plenty of mixed breeds out there.
check this link
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/domgeese.htm

barefoot gardener said...

On the subject of "hybrids", I saw a domestic/wild mated pair one time while coming home from work. I even know what farm the domestic wandered off from. It was the strangest site!

Jayne said...

I'll bet she's a popular goose, being different and all...lol. ;c)

Susan said...

A few years ago, we had a white goose hanging around with a flock of Canadian geese. We assumed it was a domestic goose, but we weren't sure. I wish I could find my photos of it - I remember it had a really ugly turkey-vulture-ish thing going on with its beak. Your white goose is much prettier.

whimzy said...

Hi There!

There are very few breeds of geese that fly.
That goose looks like it may have been crossed with a china goose and an african. It is a female and would not have the bill knob.
I have a rescued Canada goose. It chose one of my female african geese as a mate. They produced one baby together. It is a female. You can see the outline of the canada goose's white head markings, hers are light gray. Being a half domesticated goose she could never get off the ground. The only way I can think of finding out if a bird in a flock is traveling with that flock is to get them to fly. If that bird flies chances are someone didn't just dump it.

Mary said...

Dear Linne,

I don't know much about geese but what I am most impressed about is that you had your camera and bonics with you on the way home from the grocery store! Never miss an opportunity.

Larry said...

Nice goose either way.I remember thinking that I had seen an uncommon goose, and it turned out to be a Greylag which is doemestic.-It always pays to look Lynne.

Susan Gets Native said...

Maybe he just had a really bad scare?

dguzman said...

Sweet goosey, I need to keep my binocs and camera with me more often! I've missed snapping pics of a wild turkey, among other things. Nice work!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Thanks for weighing in with opinions everybody!

Anonymous said...

It's a very pretty bird! It actually resembles a breed of domestic goose that is very rare. That breed can fly. But...they are not in the us yet! :( and someone said domestics cannot fly. It totally depends. One breed, the cotton patch geese, can fly very well. I've had Chinese that will fly. I even bought 3 American buff geese the other day (beautiful birds) and they manage to get off the ground a bit. Generally young domestic geese, and the Chinese can fly. Another thing. Greylags are not domestic. They are wild, but their descendants are domestic geese. Make sense? Lol. It's fun to see these interesting geese in the wild, but unfortunetly, they don't last long. If a hunter sees a unique looking one, they just have to blast it so it can go on their wall.

Anonymous said...

I've raised birds for a long time, so I'm pretty educated. Haha. So if you have any waterfowl questions, email me at borncountry419@aol.com

Anonymous said...

It looks like a hybrid. This happens sometimes. I bet it would taste good.