Response to email about unusual geese at Stearns lake

[Deborah Carstensen]

I have two similar geese on the ponds at my house that have been here for about five years. They have grown to have more white on their head and neck through the years.
I decided that they were a hybrid of Canada geese and white farm geese or emden geese. One of the features I looked at is that they have a lot of fat underneath their tail, a large white rump that sticks up higher out of the water that is reported to be caused by the amount of fat that they carry there. Their legs were orange/pink when they first came, they’re darker now.
They are slightly bigger than the other Canada geese. They became in charge of our geese fairly quickly, have a distinctive, loud honk and are clearly the guard geese for the ponds.

These pictures are from a year and a half ago and their heads and next are much whiter now.