Pilgrim geese? yes or no?

[btwhitaker]

I discovered a flock of geese several miles from my house in a pond at a local cemetery. There is definitely a pair of White Chinese geese, and another gander that I'm pretty sure is a Toulouse goose. However, the rest of the geese have proven to be sex linked. The ganders are white, and the geese are brown/grey with white on their wings and face. The patterns of white vary from goose to goose. I raised a few of their eggs from in my incubator, and ended up with four goslings. Three were light yellow, and one was a darker grey/green. All four matured and the white ones are ganders, and the dark one is a goose. I've done my research, and I think they are Pilgrim geese but it seems that they are somewhat hard to come by. I find it hard to believe that there is a large feral flock at this cemetery. Can anyone tell me if these are actually Pilgrim geese? I raised my goslings in 2009, and since then they original flock has continued to breed. All the offspring have followed the same sex-linked trend, except for one that one of it's parents was a White Chinese goose.

Toulouse gander?

White Chinese pair

White Chinese x Pilgrim gander

Male (left) and his mate. Pilgrim geese?

My four goslings. Three males (white ones) and one female (dark).

White gander and his two dark geese. All dark goslings are females, and light ones are males.


Can anyone confirm for me that my suspicions are correct? If you'd like more pictures, let me know. I have plenty! Thanks!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Aww they are cute, they look like Pilgrim geese to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the feral flock has quite a few breed crosses but your little gaggle in the bottom photo look like Pilgrim geese to me. They are not super hard to come by.

 

[lovesgliders]

They are super cute! I agree that they look like Pilgrims, and the sex linking in the next generation prettymuch confirms that (it's my understand that with mutt geese, sex linking quickly disappears in subsequent generations).

I am dying to know how you got eggs for your bator from them... how did you manage to swipe those? A goose on her nest is a sight to behold, after all!

 

[btwhitaker]

Thank you both for your posts! I've been trying to figure out their lineage for months now! Lovesgliders, one egg I swiped from a nest that the goose had not started incubating yet. The nest was overcrowded with eggs because I think some younger geese were dumping their eggs in an older ones nest. I knew she wouldn't be able to incubate them all, so I did not see the harm in grabbing one. The other three I rescued. They hatched the night of a terrible storm, and I happened to visit the pond the next morning. Their mother nested close to the waters edge, and her nest was flooded. One gosling had already drowned, and the other three were sitting there alone. I gathered them up, with no protest from any of them, which hinted to me that they hadn't even had time to imprint on their mom. But, I took them over the flock anyway and put them down and got them to chirp. None of the geese responded, confirming that she must have panicked and left the nest during the storm. I took the trio home and raised them up with my other goose, who was about two weeks older. If you want eggs from a feral nest like that, you've gotta get them before she starts sitting because once she does, it's nearly impossible. In my experience, domestic geese aren't as peculiar about the scent of humans around or on their nest as some other wild birds are (ie mallards, canada geese, etc). So, if a hen has a too many eggs, or you just want a few to raise yourself, you won't ruin the nest by touching it!

 

[LuvMyChicks27]

I know I am a little late to the party but honestly to me the female in the last picture looks like a Cotton Patch Goose. Pilgrims have a dark orange bill and it looks like that one has a light pink one. Looks like someone just dumped their flock off at or near that cemetery. The auto sexing would carry with a cotton patch as they are the only other goose breed that you can autosex at hatch.