More hybrid geese: various Canada x domestic types

Here are a few more probable Canada x Greylag/Domestic Goose hybrids, from various places around Greater Manchester...

(I'm not sure if such hybrids are particularly common in the Manchester area, or if i've just noticed them more since i've lived around here - the white one in the last post was the only hybrid goose i ever saw in 3 years in Birmingham, and these are all from the last 6 months. There do seem to be a lot more feral domestic (anser and/or cygnoides descended) geese around in Manchester though, whereas the few that i saw around Birmingham tended not to be on the same reservoirs/ponds/lakes/etc as the much-commoner-there Canadas.)





This one was at Etherow Country Park near Stockport. Notably, there were at least 3 distinct groups of geese on the reservoir it was on - Canadas, grey/brown domestic geese (most of which had some obvious Swan Goose ancestry, although they were probably mixed with Greylag over several generations), and some extremely large white domestic geese, which i believe were probably a "pure" domestic breed such as Embdens. (first pic below shows 2 of the Embdens, with a Swan Goose-type - which, for scale, is itself about the size of a typical Canada Goose, and the others 2 of the Swan Goose types...)




The hybrid seemed to be solitary, whether by choice or because it was rejected by the other groups of geese. (I'm still not actually certain this bird is part-Canada rather than just an unusual domestic Greylag x domestic Swan Goose cross, as its head and bill look pretty Greylag-like, but from discussions on Flickr and BirdForum, black tail feathers show Branta parentage, and Canada x domestic Swan Goose hybrids tend to have a lot of white on their heads/necks.)





This one, from Heaton Park, is similar but more obviously a Canada Goose hybrid. On the boating lake it was on there were families of both Canadas and wild-type Greylags with young goslings, and 2 "mixed" family groups that seemed to each consist of a pair of Canadas with goslings and a single Greylag with goslings of its own that had joined up with them - it wouldn't surprise me if the goslings in such mixed groups were likely to pair up with each other and produce hybrids in the future. There was also a large group of white/piebald domestic Greylags with somewhat older goslings. Note the pink legs and part orange, part pink bill.



This black-billed one from a boating lake in Stalybridge appears to be a Canada x domestic Swan Goose hybrid, according to the discussion in the Flickr "hybrid birds" photo-pool (see below).

In the "hybrid birds" pool on Flickr there are many more examples of Canada x dometic goose hybrids, which are very varied - these are subdivided into probable Canada x domestic Greylag, probable Canada x domestic Swan Goose, and probable Canada x domestic with both Greylag and Swan Goose ancestry, although i'm not sure how reliably distinguishable those categories actually are.

A few more good examples of Canada x Greylag/domestic goose hybrids can be seen here, here, here and here,.