ML612793700

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - 1; Immature Unknown sex - 1

Observation details

*Rare hybrid. Two birds that stayed together in the flock of 800+ Canada Geese the entire time I was there. I believe this is an adult and juvenile (first winter) Snow Goose x Canada Goose hybrid. The adult has a partially white head, that I don't think is from partial leucism, as it appears to only have white plumage on the head and neck, and the white areas match the typical white head and neck on a Blue Morph Snow Goose. Some of the feathers over the rear (primary coverts) appear slaty-grayish, also recalling a Blue Morph Snow Goose. On the second bird, it looks closer to a "regular" CANG, but generally darker overall, which had me thinking it could be a case of melanism, but looking at the photos and seeing the slight grin patch, it looks to me like a cross of a Blue Morph Snow Goose x Canada Goose, but still in the darker juvenile Blue Snow Goose plumage. Both birds appear to have a small grin patch, and the bills look a little bit lighter than on a pure CANG, especially on the adult, which appears to have a slight orange hue on the bill. I initially noticed a different rear end in the flock of CANG, and my first impression was a possible Barnacle Goose, but it was at the far end of the flock. Eventually the two birds moved closer, and then eventually walked by for some good looks and photos.

Technical information

Model

NIKON Z 6_2

Lens

AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

ISO

2200

Focal length

700 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

2893 pixels x 1930 pixels

Original file size

1.84 MB