Good evening cobirds!
This morning in Longmont at Loomiller park (Boulder county) we spotted this goose that we think is a hybrid. I did see the email earlier about how to list hybrids in ebird, but I'm hoping since we have photos we can get a more definitive ID on this one! Caveat: I'm not good at waterfowl...
It looks to me like a snow/Ross's x cackling/Canada of some sort. I'm leaning towards the first half of that cross being snow: I think I see a grin patch, the beak looks bigger than a Ross's, the line where the beak attaches to the face is curved and not just vertical, and the overall bird size was about the size of the majority of the cackling geese that were out there.
As far as cackling/Canada, I'm not sure at all. Size was about the size of the majority of cackling geese that were on the pond but I know that may not be useful! It was spending time near the cackling geese but that might have just been where it was comfortable.
Of note, a snow x cackling was reported at a pond just a few miles away on Nov 28, about 10 days ago. This bird looks very similar.
Any pointers would be appreciated! I haven't marked him on a list yet because I wanted to get some expert opinions.
Thanks,
Goldie Klein
Broomfield, CO