On Sun, 3 Sep 1995, Burton Guttman wrote:

> Ocean Shores:
> In a little flock of Canada Geese at the golf course were two very
> peculiar geese. One I judged at the time to be very much like a hybrid
> Canada x blue-morph Snow, and when I got home I checked my references for
> information about hybrids with Canadas; Madge and Burn, _Waterfowl_, note
> that rare hybrids of this kind have been reported. This goose had a
> diluted Canada head and neck, as if a Canada had been somewhat bleached;
> its bill and legs were pink, rather than black; tail feathers white, and
> the body as a whole a somewhat patchy, nondescript gray. The second
> goose had the same pink bill and legs, white tail feathers, and even
> patchier gray and white body, neck, and head. My impression was that
> this is what might result from a backcross between a hybrid like the
> first goose and a Snow, of either morph. These two birds stayed
> together, and I might even suggest that they were a parent and an
> offspring of the year migrating together.

Burt,

Your excellent description doesn't seem to rule out any of the myriad
hybrid crosses between the Canada and any number of domestic _Anser_
geese. I have seen several dozens of domestic X Canada crosses in the
wintering goose flocks in the lower Columbia River area and in the
Willamette Valley, Oreg., but have not seen any that I could ascribe to a
Canada X Snow Goose union.

One hint about the cross might be related to *which* subspecies of Canada
goose was involved. If the remainder of the flock were of the Western
(or "Great Basin") subspecies - B.c. moffitti - I might think that the
Canadas were the local, relatively non-migratory birds. The odds that
B.c. moffitti would be in the vicinity of the breeding Snow Goose (way up
in northern central Canada) are remote. However, the proximity of the
local breeding Canadas to the numerous local breeding farm flocks of
white, brown or whatever geese provides a lot of opportunity for such
crossing.

*I think* the Canada goose subspecies that nests in northern Canada
nearest the snow goose nesting grounds is B.c. hutchinsii (?), which
migrates through the central flyway and does not come into the Pacific
Northwest. I'll have to look this one up in my old Bellrose. Any crosses
from that subspecies and snow geese might be expected in Texas and
Louisiana but I shouldn't expect them here.

Dennis; do you know of any specimens of Canada X ??? in your or other
local museos' collections?

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, WA
anderjda at dfw.wa.gov