Doug, etal.,

Here is a description (see below, of two hybrids I saw last year, I also relocated them on March 30 the same year. Now only speculation but we have had a snow goose paired with a Canada goose over the last several years show up at Sprauge Lake. Hum?



Canada Goose ::: Grant Co
January 18, 2003 ::: 600 Rd 6SE

Two birds mixed w/ CAGO.

I had two unusual geese mixed in a flock of about 500 Canada geese. Both
had body plumage similar to the Canada's except they both had orange legs,
flesh colored bills, I thought I could see a gap between the upper and lower
mandibles. One bird the white on it's lower belly extended to it's chest area.
Both birds had white heads and black necks with some variation. One the
head was all white except a small amount black around the eye, and the
white extended down it's neck to the body. This bird also had gray on the
front of the neck, so only the sides were black. The other bird's head was
white but the black from the neck went up into the crown of the head (but not
the forehead). The black from the neck also formed a streak ( line) to the eye.
The two birds were not together and were on opposite sides of the flock. I
saw no feather edging on back or wings of these birds. The flock was on
Road 6 SE about one mile east of Perch Point.

Bob Flores
Othello, WA
rflores at smwireless.net