[mou] Ross's Goose X Snow Goose probable hybrid, Dakota Co.

[James Mattsson]

Sat. May 17 - 8:00am.
SW corner of Cliff Rd and Biscayne in Inver Grove Heights. Agricultural field. 

Donn, Kathy, Laura Mattsson and I observed what appeared to be a white morph adult Ross's Goose feeding with about 20 Canadas and a few Mallards. Scoped views showed that the bird was mostly Ross's-like (90?), but had the following features that suggested Snow Goose genes: 

- bill was intermediate in size, shape and color but closer to Ross's, i.e., a bit too large, not quite perfectly triangular and a bit too much orange, with just a hint of a grin patch. Also, the line formed by the base of the bill and facial feathering was just slightly bowed forward, not perfectly vertical as expected in pure Ross's.

- head shape was intermediate but closer to Ross's, i.e., mostly round but just a bit oblong.

- neck was just a bit long for a pure Ross's, i.e. it mostly looked very short but occasionally the bird extended it more than expected for pure Ross's.

The bird was about 125 m away and could easily have been ID'd as a Ross's without scoped views. Traffic made it difficult to attempt digiscoping, thus no photos. 


James Mattsson
mattjim at earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.
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