Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose

Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose hybrid, Åhus (Sweden), 24th January 2012 - copyright Carl Gunnar Gustavsson

(photo ID: 0930)

It's interesting to compare this bird from Sweden, bearing a striking resemblence to Bar-headed Goose, to the birds from Germany with entirely white head and neck.  Although the Swedish bird recalls Bar-headed Goose note the intermediate bill colour (including the nail), small grinning patch and white flecks in the crown. 

Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose hybrid (same bird as in photo ID 0930 above), Åhus (Sweden), 24th January 2012 - copyright Carl Gunnar Gustavsson

(photo ID: 0931)

This hybrid is fertile and among the flock in Germany some birds appear to be backcrossed with Bar-headed Goose while one has produced young with a Swan Goose - see the Swan Goose x (Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose) trigen page.

The followng birds may not all be F1 hybrids.

Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose hybrids, Schrevenpark, Kiel (Germany), 16th August 2011 - copyright Joern Lehmhus

(photo IDs: 0680-0689)

The following birds were in the same flock.  The front bird is the hybrid, the left hand bird is a Bar-headed Goose with which it was paired and the third bird may be a backcrossed hybrid (Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose) x Bar-headed Goose.  Joern describes how whilst
It looked superficially like a Bar-headed Goose in head and neck pattern, it showed some small white spots in the dark nape, its body was slightly darker grey than all of the Bar-headed Geese in the park (similar to the hybrids' grey) and the tertials and greater coverts were darker and slightly more pointed with broader white edges than in the other Bar-headed Geese in the park. In addition the leg colour of the possible backcross seemed intermediate between the Bar-headed Goose in the photo and the Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose hybrid, but this is difficult to see on the photos.

Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose hybrid, Bar-headed Goose and possible backcrossed (Bar-headed Goose x Snow Goose) x Bar-headed Goose hybrid, Schrevenpark, Kiel (Germany), 16th August 2011 - copyright Joern Lehmhus

(photo IDs: 0690-0691)

Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus
Snow Goose Anser caerulescens or Chen caerulescens