Maybe ya'll will know...

And I will say that our bird (and the two others) definately have the darker stripe down the back of the neck as well. Like the one in the link I posted. I seem to remember the white line in front of the bill too.
 
I think it's the Domestic Greylag Goose (the can go feral and would be likely to join up with wild geese. They have the dark neck stripe and the white one over the bill.

Scroll down the link to the second picture. Is that the goose?

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/domgeese.htm

ETA: I read in that story that these "domestic" geese were travelling with wild Canadian geese.
 
Last edited:
Those birds look like him (especially the third picture) but are maybe a little bit darker. Of course, I could just think ours is lighter than he is because he's around normally dark CGs.

I don't understand why he/she doesn't fly with them though? Poor thing. They leave him behind and he just sits there and honks his little sad frog ribbitt/duck quack squawk.

I guess maybe if it's an escaped domestic, perhaps its wings were clipped? Which wouldn't help explain at all how it got there in the first place. And wouldn't clipped wings grow in normally after the next molt?

Edited to add: After Googling "Domestic Greylag Goose" I see that they come with varying shades of gray. I think that may be our bird.
 
Last edited:
By George! I think you've found it!

The call on this site sounds remarkably similar ours (and likewise, nothing like a Canadian Goose).
http://www.kwacs.org.uk/Greylag.html

From Wikipedia:
North America
In North America, small populations of Greylag Geese descended from domesticated geese have become established, mostly in city parks and near humans. These geese usually exist as part of larger flocks of Canada Geese. The Greylag Goose can hybridize with the native Canada Goose, producing birds which, to say the least, can be puzzling to birders attempting to identify them.


Maybe we do have a hybrid (or will soon) but I think he's definately not the wild variety, which I guess is why I was having so much trouble identifying him.

Thanks so much! This guy has been puzzling me for months!
 
Last edited:
He probably doesn't fly with them because he can't. Seeing how big the domestics get, makes me think it's like the Rouen ducks. He's just too big to fly like the wild guys.

Glad your mystery is solved.
big_smile.png
 
Quote:
That is not what is suggested, CG & White geese cross fairly often so the hybrids in flordia might look the same as your Hybrids. BTW have you ruled out such things as Snow or Blue Geese which sometimes fly with CG?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom