Maybe ya'll will know...

[AmyRey]

We live very close to a small lake (10 acres) and in the last few years have been - permanently perhaps - visited by a flock of wild Canadian geese. They come and go, presumably to neighboring bodies of water in the area but they seldom stay gone very long. Some have even hatched young there.

About a year ago, however, we started noticing that one of the geese was "different". This goose is much paler than the Canadian geese. The coloring and markings appear to be pretty similar, but where the Canadians have black, this goose has gray. His/her feet and bill are orange. It never flies off with the Canadian geese, but always stays at our lake, even if he/she is the only one to remain there. And its "honk" is definately different from theirs as well. He/she sounds more like a very loud frog croaking than a goose honking.

I looked around online and in the books but not being able to find a picture of one similar, I was thinking that this goose was simply a mutant or albino Canadian goose. However, while visiting Florida a couple of weekends ago, I noticed two more around a lake at the campground where we stayed. It appears that this is a distinct breed and not a variant of the Canadians.

Any ideas?

 

[Whispering Winds]

There is a small pond in a cattle pasture just a few miles from where I live, and I noticed that a CG settled in with the white geese they had, and one of the females had a bunch of babies that were mixed. I wonder if that is what that one is. . .we have hundreds of CG around here that stay all year now. . .

 

[AmyRey]

I would say that's a possibility, until I saw this pair of the same geese in Florida.

How likely would it be that one CG/white goose hybrid met up with another CG/white goose hybrid and decided to become a couple themselves?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Around here in winter, we get Brant geese which are very similar to Canada Geese except they're smaller. But they have the same honk.

The yellow legs you describe sound odd to me though...

 

[AmyRey]

Googled "brant geese" and that's definately not our bird.

 

[AmyRey]

This picture is nearly identical to what our bird (and the two others I saw) look like:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1059186433043216971hKjFiV
(I can't get the img link to work.)

I don't see an ID on this bird other than "it's gray".

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Well, I got nowheresville Googling "wild geese". That gray goose looks so familiar. I will look it up when I get home to my bird books tonight.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Snow Goose perhaps??

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Yard full o' rocks :

Snow Goose perhaps??

That's what I thought when I saw the rough neck feathers. But it's gray. Now this is really starting to bother me. Thanks a lot AmyRey!!!​

 

[AmyRey]

Not full grown, but the juvenile snow goose is close. Except for the bill/feet color.

Juvenile snow goose: