White Freak Goose....

[Jay Anglin]

I shot this the day Mitch shot his first goose. I've been watching it for weeks and noted that it was spending a lot of time with two double banded(tarsal)and a few single banded birds. Everybody in the area has been watching this bird and it seems to turn up all over the place. It came in as I was trying to land a bird for Mitch and I ended up killing two birds with that shot(for obvious reasons)as they lined up. No dice on the band(killed one last week and a collar today so I'm not too upset). It was one helluva flock...like the superstar flock!

I assume that this is nothing more than a domestic greylag/Canada hybrid but it sure is pretty. When it's standing both sides have this nice light gray cast to them and other than the darker gray feathers on the back it's mostly white and and the light gray. Interestingly the toes nails are pearl colored and the bill has a pearl orangish pink color. The eyes are blue and black but overall the bird seems leucistic. If it were for the ruffled neck feathers I'd call it a leucistic Canada. The primary wing tips are very worn. I seem to remember that the feathers that lack pigmentation wear easier because they have a weaker structure...am I dreaming that?

Check it out.....

 

[William Hill]

Very cool, going on the wall?

 

[TimJ]

If it wasn't for the bill that looks a little long and thin I'd say it was 100% farm goose. I've seen domestic geese fly around just fine. The hybrids I have seen, granted only a couple, have looked a lot more like a canada. Looks like it was a big goose. I'm sure someone better at bill ID can tell more.
Neat goose no matter what. (That is my standard comment when someone shoots a popcorn fed domestic waterfowl and I don't want them to think I am insulting their bird...which I am not)

Here is a site with some hybrids.

Tim

 

[Huntindave McCann]

Jay,

I sure hope you shot that thing in Indiana because it looks like one of those special Canada geese that are federally endangered and protected in Illinois. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[GaryRI]

I'd bet a domestic hybrid (no shortage of different breeds of domestic geese) that somehow got skinny enough to "escape" a barnyard.

 

[Al Hansen]

Jay, do you know a waterfowl biologist that could take a look at it? I'm thinking the same thing you are about it being leucistic (colorless gene syndrome).
Al

 

[Cas Alkanowski]

I also bagged a Blue eyed goose that looked like yours but it was all white .It was flying in v formation with about 10 canadian geese and thinking it was a lone snow goose which was the only birds in season and was flying at the end of the V formation I got lucky and bagged it only to find it to be kinda spooky having blue eyes and being all white .at that time I didn't know what it was,coulda bin a grayleg don't know this was about 6-years ago.