Swan goose or hybrid

[ging...@comcast.net]

Hi Everyone,

I saw this bird on the Platte River near 88th, hanging out with a bunch of Canada geese.  Merlin says Swan Goose but a friend thought maybe a Graylag/Swan Goose hybrid.  Any thoughts?  Sorry for the photo quality.  I only had my phone with me.

Ginger

[Patrick O'Driscoll]

Ginger -- 

I'm not an expert on this, but from the photos I've seen online of Swan Geese, their bills appear longer and a bit more swan-like than this one's.

Hybridization with Graylag or some form of domestic/barnyard goose seems likely.

Since 2009, Denver City Park has had a resident Graylag hybrid (actually two of them until one died several years ago) that an eBird reviewer advised me some years ago was likely a Graylag X Swan Goose hybrid.

I've been checklisting it as such on eBird ever since that reviewer note.

That bird -- known to City Parkers as "Gandalf" (brother to the now-deceased "Randolph") -- is a lot like this one, except he has a prominent bill as orange as the feet, not darker like this one.

Also, his bill is large but not as elongated ast the Swan Goose photos I've seen online.

For what it's worth and comparisons, here's Gandalf last 

February in City Park's Duck Lake:

Patrick O'Driscoll

Denver

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